So as it turns out, Old St. Nicholas has a brother, Fred, and he is without a doubt the black sheep of the Claus family. When Fred (played by Vince Vaughn) finds himself in big financial trouble, his brother Nick (played by Paul Giamatti) agrees to bail Fred out and let him pay off his debt in the North Pole, which goes just about as well as you'd expect — but at least Elizabeth Banks happens to be a beautiful, abnormally tall elf in the North Pole.