Elf.
New
Line Cinema presents a film directed by John Favreau.
Written by David Berenbaum. Running time: 95 minutes.
Rated PG (for mild profanity).
Starring Will
Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Edward Asner, Bob
Newhart, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay. |
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Elf
Some
early reviews of Elf have been calling it a new Christmas
classic. That's almost certainly hyperbole, but not a huge
stretch. Unlike most Christmas movies, which are either too
dumb or too schmaltzy to work, Elf understands what
made such real classics like A Christmas Story so great.
It is filled with Christmas spirit, a wonderful energy that
more than compensates for the tries-too-hard ending.
When
we're children, the magic of Christmas is unmatched by any
other day of the year. However, as we grow older, the magic
of the holiday slowly grows weaker. The true success of Elf
is the way it appeals to all age groups, without ever
trying to force anything. Sure, much of the film is hilarious,
and some of it is even oddly touching, but nothing about Elf
impresses more than the fact that anyone, young or old,
can go into the theater and come out filled with Christmas
spirit. It's only the middle of November, but, while watching
Elf, it feels like December 25.
Buddy
(Ferrell), as an infant, crawled into Santa's toy sack and
ended up at the North Pole. Adopted by Santa (Edward Asner),
Buddy grows up as in the workshop. Only when Buddy begins
to notice how different he is from the other elves (he is
over six feet tall) does his step-father (Bob Newhart) tell
him the truth. Buddy leaves for Manhattan, where his real
father (James Caan) lives and works. Dressed only in typical
elf clothing, Buddy is somewhat lost in the Big Apple, although
he certainly doesn't realize it. Armed with a huge smile and
plenty of Christmas spirit, Buddy sets out to spread cheer
throughout the city. During his odyssey, Buddy falls in love
with a cute department store elf named Jovie (Zooey Deschanel),
brings his family closer together, and saves Santa.
One
would think that the elf-in-Manhattan routine would lead to
plenty of cheap or exploitive laughs, but Elf never
sinks that low. The screenplay always treats Buddy with respect;
instead of seeming stupid, Buddy is just cheerfully naive,
a child in a man's body, because that's how he was raised.
Buddy is bewildered by things like revolving doors and escalators,
and he is shocked at the lack of love for Christmas in the
city. "You sit on a throne of lies," he tells a
department store Santa, just before yanking off his fake beard.
It is moments like these that we start to care for Buddy as
an actual person, as strange as that seems.
But
that turns out to be, oddly enough, the main problem with
Elf. Whenever Ferrell is offscreen, the film loses
focus and drive. The scenes of Buddy's father at work or at
home are clichéd, and, unfortunately, uninvolving.
As ingenious as a lot of Buddy's scenes are, everything that
happens without him seems straight out of a screenwriting
manual. And the sideplot in which Buddy renews his brother's
faith in Christmas is the most uninteresting. Ferrell does
his best to spice up these scenes, but his little brother
(Daniel Tay), is just not a good character. And it doesn't
help that Tay isn't much of an actor, either.
Will
Ferrell, in his first leading film role, is wonderful. Always
wearing a big, sincere grin, he gives quite simply the most
joyous performance of the year. As played by him, Buddy is
always endearing, and he never outstays his welcome. I see
a great acting career ahead for Ferrell. The beautiful and
charming Zooey Deschanel is oddly underused, but is still
great whenever she is onscreen, and she gets to show off a
gorgeous singing voice. James Caan, Ed Asner, and Bob Newhart
are all strange casting choices, but their performances work.
Elf,
while not being the holiday classic that some have proclaimed,
is still the best Christmas movie to be released in quite
some time. It never panders to the audience in the way that
The Santa Clause movies do, and its humor is funny,
no matter what age group you belong to. For the holiday season,
I can't see any other movie beating Elf at its own
game.
©
2003 Matt Noller
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