Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn in Fred Claus Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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Cynical moviegoers might look at Fred Claus and see the elaborate special effects, broad slapstick humor, and dollar-sign-emblazoned re-teaming of Wedding Crashers star Vince Vaughn and director David Dobkin, and think, Bah, humbug. But surely even those hardened hearts will go a big rubbery one when they find out that Fred Claus actually has its origins in the most cozy, Yuletide thing of all: a bedtime story.

"My daughter, one night, asked me if Santa Claus had a family," explains story creator and producer Jessie Nelson. "And I thought, Oh my God, of course he did." Soon, she found herself musing over Claus family values: How trying it must be for Santa's brother to live in the shadow of greatness. How hard it would be growing up as Santa, to give all your birthday presents away, while always being a little pudgy and jolly all the time. After a final dose of inspiration courtesy of The Godfather's Fredo, Fred Claus was born.

"We always slightly had Vince [Vaughn] in our minds when we were working on the script," Nelson says. "We felt he could bring so much heart to the 'naughty kids' story of Christmas."

The film introduces Fred — Santa's older brother — working as a repo man in Chicago, having dated the same woman (Rachel Weisz) for years without any plans for commitment, and having cut off all ties to his North Pole–dwelling brother (Paul Giamatti) and sister-in-law (Miranda Richardson). When one of his moneymaking schemes fails and he lands in jail, Fred calls his brother to bail him out. Santa agrees on one condition: Fred must move to the North Pole to help Santa and the elves prepare for Christmas. But Fred isn't the only new arrival; the conniving Clyde Northcut (Kevin Spacey) has just flown in and will stop at nothing to put Santa permanently on ice. Meanwhile, overworked and overfed St. Nick battles the clock and his obesity-related health problems to make sure all the good children of the world receive presents.

"I think the kids love the great theme that there are no naughty kids," Vaughn says. "Here's a genre that's been done forever — my best friend Peter Billingsley did Christmas Story, which is one of the best. 'Shoot your eye out, kid.' And then there's It's a Wonderful Life, but both those movies have some real drama in them as well. [Fred] does this in a way that's not dark and that's not inappropriate, but with more seriousness and consequences, which is a testament to the character that Kevin plays."

Kevin Spacey and Paul Giamatti in Fred Claus Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Spacey and Vaughn's characters end up teaching Santa a valuable lesson — that there are no naughty kids, just misunderstood ones, a notion that forms the heart beneath Fred Claus's madcap antics.

"Anybody who says, 'Oh you're playing this really villainous, horrible, bad character,' just hasn't seen the whole movie," Spacey says. "Stay to the end of the movie; then you'll see who he really is. He's the kind of character that goes through a journey."

Though Fred Claus sprang from a child's bedtime story and carries the usual themes of Christmas cheer, there is no denying that this is a Vince Vaughn movie. From feuding with little girls to starting an elfin dance party, Vaughn leaves his mark.

"I think that we made a point of really not having Vince be too bland for the adults," says producer Joel Silver, a man known more for big-budget action flicks like The Matrix or V for Vendetta. "You still get Vince. You get a PG version of Vince."

True, children may enjoy the simple story and adults be entertained by funnyman Vaughn, but Spacey may be the one getting a Christmas wish: a sequel.

	Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus
	Ludacris as DJ Donnie