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Elf
Okay,
I admit I don't really care for Will Ferrell, the "laugh
at the man-child" brand of comedy has never appealed
to me, and it makes me cringe both inwardly and outwardly
when a character humiliates himself.
That said
- I probably wasn't the best person to send to a screening
of Elf. From my first agonized viewing of the preview
some months back, I'd been determined to sit this one out.
I've always associated Ferrell with Jim Carrey and the "funny
faces" school of acting. Carrey, to me, is an utterly
insincere actor, and I never believe him for a moment. No
matter what emotion he's portraying, it's always just that,
a portrayal. When I see Ferrell, I expect the same. Funny
faces with no depth.
Let me
just state for the record that I had many cringe moments,
and that Will Ferrell succeeded on getting on my nerves. Determined
to ram Christmas spirit down our throats, his toothy grins
and rolling eyes reminded me more of a frightened chimpanzee
than a gentle Christmas elf. I half expected him to leap off
the screen and start flinging fruitcake at the panicking audience.
However…those
moments were surprisingly few and far between. Director Jon
Favreau crafted an uneven but surprisingly winning movie that
somehow succeeded in endearing Will Ferrell to me. As I write
this I'm trying to pinpoint the moment when I ceased to hate
him. I think it began when the movie opened on, of all people,
Bob Newhart in elf garb. I was not expecting Bob Newhart.
That man has the magical power of instantly disarming all
my slings and arrows, and reducing me to a cuddly puppy state.
"Bob Newhart's in this? Oh no! How can I be cynical?
Oh God, he's doing the stuttering thing. Must…scoff…must...
Tell me a story Uncle Bob!"
 So
yeah, I can't hate a movie with Bob Newhart in it.
If you've
seen the preview you know that Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a
human raised by Christmas elves in the North Pole. Reared
by kindly stuttering Bob Newhart, Buddy is ignorant of his
human heritage. Although he meets quota in Christmas spirit
and exuberance, he's a failure at toy making, and an object
of pity to the rest of the elves.
When he
overhears some elves clucking over his humanity, he goes to
his adopted father for the truth. Newhart explains Buddy's
background, shows him a picture of his parents, and gives
him the bad news - his mother is dead and his father is on
The Naughty List. Realizing he doesn't fit in with the other
elves, he gets Santa's blessing (Santa - a decrepit Ed Asner,
what's the world coming to?) and sets off on foot to New York
City. What is it about New York and Christmas movies?
Here we
veer into standard fish-out-of-water territory. Buddy is an
innocent abroad in a strange and wonderful land. He encounters
standard New York hostility, especially in the form of his
workaholic father, played by James Caan. Caan, credited only
as "Buddy's Biological Father," is an editor of
children's books for a publisher quartered in the Empire State
Building, and we're treated to the lovable personas of Andy
Richter and Kyle Gass as his minions.
Buddy
is initially rejected by his father and poses as a department
store elf in the local toy store, where he brings over-the-top
Christmas cheer to those miserable retail drones just trying
to make it through the season. One of the drones is Jovie,
played by Zooey Deschanel. Initially disturbed and a bit unnerved
by Buddy, she inevitably warms to his childlike charms.
 I
think the scene that finally tipped me over into pro-Ferrell
territory is between these two. Having no place else to go,
and possessing an elven sense of industry, Buddy spends the
night turning the department store Santaland into a holiday
extravaganza. When Jovie comes into work early to shower,
Buddy is drawn to her shower singing. My favorite part of
Elf is the sight of Will Ferrell sitting on the sink
in the women's bathroom dreamily singing under his breath
along with Deschanel's lovely rendition of "Baby It's
Cold Outside." It's simple and sweet, and a highlight
of the movie.
There
isn't much of a main plot in Elf, it's really just
a couple of character driven subplots stuck together. Buddy
has to find and win over his father, and gain the heart of
Jovie. "Dad" needs to come up with a winning children's
book to save his job, while struggling with the new addition
to his family. Santa needs to finish his Christmas rounds
in a world low on Christmas spirit, the juice that makes his
sleigh fly. You didn't think we could have an elf movie without
someone "saving Christmas," did you?
Over all,
Elf is more than it needs to be. There are lots of
little gems that totally delighted me, Ferrell was only occasionally
obnoxious, and the story held together enough to keep me engaged.
There were no talking animals, sparkly showers, or Dudley
Moores, and the movie took itself with a grain of salt, fending
off the saccharine that so often flavors holiday fare. Kids
will love it, and if we're feeling forgiving, the rest of
us might too.
Rating:
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