| Friday, November 09, 2007 |
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 Fred Claus hit theaters two weeks before Thanksgivng, hoping to spread some early Yuletide cheer. Unfortunately, the critics have made a list, checked it twice, and determined this one's a lump of coal. Vince Vaughn stars as Santa's no-good brother, a repo man who's lived in the shadow of St. Nick (Paul Giamatti); after a run-in with the law, Santa agrees to help his bro on the condition that he do some hard labor at the North Pole to help with the Christmas demand for toys. It's a pretty funny premise, and the cast includes such able thespians as Miranda Richardson, Kevin Spacey, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, and Rachel Weisz. But the pundits say Fred never settles on a workable tone, awkwardly vacillating between wacky slapstick and sappy sentiment.
Lions for Lambs is an ambitious attempt to look at the complexities of our current political landscape from a number of different angles. It stars Robert Redford (who also directed), Tom Cruise, and Meryl Streep. But despite such impressive pedigree, pundits say the film falls flat. Lions looks at the war on terror from the perspectives of two young enlistees, a college professor, a senator and TV reporter. Critics say Redford's heart is in the right place in wanting greater engagement in politics from the general public; it's just that Lions is weighted down with too much talk, and ends up coming across as a civics lesson rather than a compelling drama.
Fred Claus isn't the only Christmas-themed movie in theaters this week. P2 is the story of a woman who's late to Christmas Eve dinner because she's tied up -- literally. In order to see what Santa has delivered for her this year, she must escape the clutches of an evil security guard. Some critics say P2 is pretty decent, a game of cinematic cat and mouse with a dark sense of humor. However, others say it's still essentially a genre exercise, and pretty gory to boot. Find out what else is playing this week. |
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