FRED CLAUS

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Better than it has a right to be, this holiday confection takes a coasting sleigh ride in Vince Vaughn’s humbled charisma as Santa’s goof-up older brother.

Fred Claus’s days as a thieving Chicago repo man end when he calls his jolly brother to bail him out of jail.

In return for his freedom, Fred agrees to move to the North Pole and help our Santa (beautifully underplayed by Paul Giamatti) in the busy days leading up to Christmas.

Santa has his own economic pressures with a business efficiency wolf threatening to take over his toy-building town.

Director David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers") stays the course on the straight-line story before settling Santa’s night of gift giving on an appropriately somber note indicative of our troubled times.

Sure it’s all about the performances of Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti, and there isn’t a trace of the cynicism of "Bad Santa" or the dippy romance of "Elf," but that’s the point.

Rated PG. 104 mins.