Fred Claus

In the mid-19th century, young Frederick Claus grows up in the shadow of his younger brother Nicholas. Nick's selfless and kind attitude constantly wins the approval of his family over Fred, causing a strained relationship that is permanently damaged when Nick cuts down a tree, inadvertently destroying the bird house in which Fred's bird Chirp Chirp lived in. Due to Nick's saint-like personality, he is deemed a "Saint", and the family is gifted with immortality.

In the present, Nick has become the modern-day Santa Claus, delivering gifts to the children of the world. Fred has become a repossession agent in Chicago. Fred lives alone and is friends with orphan Samuel "Slam" Gibbons. After his girlfriend Wanda breaks up with him, Fred is fired and arrested for impersonating a Salvation Army employee in an attempt to raise seed money for an illegal casino plan. Fred asks Nick for bail and seed money. Nick only agrees on the condition that Fred comes to the North Pole to work for the money.

Head Elf Willie escorts Fred to the North Pole. Nick gives Fred the task of assigning children as "naughty" or "nice" based on their behavior. Efficiency expert Clyde Northcutt, from the agency which monitors the activities of supernatural entities, arrives to analyze the North Pole's dwindling performance on a three-strike assessment. Fred picks a fight with the workshop's DJ Donnie after he plays "Here Comes Santa Claus" on repeat, causing disruption that leads to Northcutt assigning the first strike. Nick sandbags Fred into having dinner that evening with their parents.

Later that night, Northcutt shreds the children's letters. Fred is blamed for "losing" the letters, and the lack of backup copies leads to a second strike. Not believing Fred's denials, Nick has security abduct Fred, and bring him to an intervention, attended by their parents, Nick's wife Annette, Wanda, and a psychologist. Angered by Fred's self-centeredness and his obnoxious attitude, Wanda leaves him; Fred insults Nick and lambasts his parents for having favoritism. Following the intervention, Fred sees Slam on the top spot of the Naughty List; Fred realizes that Slam's bad behavior is a consequence of being bullied at the orphanage (along with some bad advice he gave him), and that Slam is a good kid. Fred then returns to his office and assigns every child as "nice".

The brothers get into a fight over Fred's decision, with Nick injuring his back. Unable to now produce enough gifts for every good child, the North Pole falls far behind schedule, leading Northcutt to assign the third strike, shutting down the workshop. Fred leaves, taking his money and a gift from Nick. Back in Chicago, Fred attends a meeting with the siblings of other celebrities in an attempt to sort out his issues. Fred opens his gift: a replica of the birdhouse Chirp Chirp lived in and a note from Nick apologizing for cutting down the tree. With a change of heart, Fred uses the seed money to make his way back to the North Pole.

Fred motivates the elves to make as many gifts as possible. Because of his injury, Nick is unable to deliver gifts. Feeling guilty, Fred decides to deliver the presents (as only a Claus can deliver the gifts). He reminds Nick that most of the "naughty" kids aren't bad, but good kids going through bad situations, and that every child deserves a gift on Christmas. Fred gets the workshop to quickly make simple gifts so that every child gets a toy. Fred and Willie begin to deliver the gifts, but Northcutt sabotages their efforts and fires the elves. Nick realizes that Northcutt was also bullied as a child, which caused him to become troubled. Nick apologizes to Northcutt for putting him at the top of the Naughty List in 1968 and gives him the Superman cape he had asked for as a child.

Disguised as Santa, Fred visits Slam and gives him the dog he wanted for Christmas and tells Slam to become a better person. After every gift is delivered, Fred returns to the North Pole while Willie finally starts a relationship with the tall elf, Charlene. Fred and Nick make amends. Santa hires Northcutt to work at the North Pole. Slam is adopted. Fred reconciles with Wanda and takes her to Paris. The next Christmas, the Claus family is happily reunited including Chirp Chirp who now lives in the new birdhouse.

• Vince Vaughn as Frederick "Fred" Claus
  • Jordon Hull as 6 year old Fred
  • Liam James as 12 year old Fred
• Paul Giamatti as Nicholas "Nick"/"Santa" Claus
  • Theo Stevenson as 6 year old Nick
• Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Annette Claus, Nick's wife.
• Kathy Bates and Trevor Peacock as Mother and Father Claus, Fred and Nick's parents. Peacock also serves as the narrator.
• Rachel Weisz as Wanda Blinkowski, Fred's girlfriend and a parking enforcement officer.
• John Michael Higgins as Willie, Nick's head elf whom Fred befriends and helps to hook up with Charlene.
• Elizabeth Banks as Charlene, a tall, blonde elf with whom Willie becomes enamored.
• Kevin Spacey as Clyde Archibald Northcutt, an efficiency expert who comes to assess the situation at the North Pole.
• Ludacris as DJ Donnie
• Jeremy Swift as Bob Elf
• Elizabeth Berrington as Linda Elf
• Bobb'e J. Thompson as Samuel "Slam" Gibbons, a young orphan boy that Fred mentors.
• Allan Corduner as Dr. Goldfarb
• Dylan Minnette, Justin McEwen, and Tyler Kelley as orphanage kids
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan (cameo) as unnamed man getting parking ticket.
• Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton Jr., and Stephen Baldwin as themselves at a Siblings Anonymous meeting Fred attends
• Ethan Cutkosky as Carl
• Burn Gorman as an Elf

Original music is composed by Christophe Beck, although portions of Alan Silvestri's Mouse Hunt score also appear. In addition to starring in the film, Ludacris contributed an original song titled "Ludacrismas", which includes portions of "Here Comes Santa Claus". The film also features Elvis Presley's 1969 single "Rubberneckin'".

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 25, 2008. The special features includes 25 minutes of deleted scenes and an audio commentary by director David Dobkin. The Blu-ray release includes a music video for "Ludacrismas" by Ludacris in High Definition and also a bonus disc entitled Fred Claus: Race to Save Christmas.

• List of Christmas films
• Santa Claus in film

• Official website
• Fred Claus at IMDb
• Fred Claus at AllMovie
• Fred Claus at the TCM Movie Database
• Fred Claus at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Fred Claus at Box Office Mojo
• Fred Claus at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fred Claus at Metacritic