Kevin Spacey: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Clyde - Fred Claus

Where does anyone start with this one? Clyde... from Fred Claus - the breakout hit of 2007. Essentially, the entire film is a vehicle for Vince Vaughn to show off his ability to... be... er, Santa? Paul Giamatti takes the role of St. Nick while Vaughn plays Fred Clause, Santa's older scummy brother who has been spending most of his life running scams in Chicago. Eventually, he gets in over his head and Santa will only help him out if Vaughn heads up to the winter workshop to help with the christmas rush, and there is a surprise inspection happening in the workshop too. The plot is as good as it sounds. You'd think that was the elevator pitch, but no, that's essentially the entire plot. Spacey plays an auditor named Clyde, who for some reason is going through the entirety of Santa's operation and trying to make sure that the whole operation is as efficient as possible. It's something of a miracle that anyone agreed to be in this film at all, nevermind Kevin Spacey - who should seriously have known better. It's not like he was the new actor on the block, struggling to get by.