Movie Review - Elf

  Elf (2003)

Director: Jon Favreau

Starring: Will Ferrell, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner

Watching Elf, one thing struck me: the whole "Will Ferrell being Will Ferrell" shtick, while still funny, isn't nearly as fresh or as charming in 2012 as it was in 2003.  I guess it shouldn't be surprising that watching Will Ferrell play in traffic or eat used gum was funner nine years ago; after all, Elf came out well before the collective Will Ferrell fatigue we all suffered as a result of the deluge of like-minded movies starring the comedian that hit from 2004 to 2008.  In a way, Will Ferrell is the 21st century Adam Sandler: an SNL alum with a very specific, largely family-friendly brand of comedy that made him an enormous star over a relatively short period of time. I think that Ferrell is funnier than Sandler (not saying much), but the comparison is interesting.  Where the career of Ferrell has differed from Sandler has been his willingness to branch out and take on more diverse roles (something Sandler admittedly did with Punch Drunk Love, but that was much later in his career).  Bewitched, Stranger than Fiction, and Eastbound & Down were all attempts by Ferrell to take on roles distinguishing himself from those that made him famous in movies like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. 

But Elf was released in 2003, and at that point Ferrell was a rising star whose biggest movie was still Old School. Anchorman was a year away.  But Ferrell was coming off a lengthy run as the consensus funniest and most respected cast member on Saturday Night Live: the Kristen Wiig of his era.  I don't know how many would have predicted it at the time, but Elf was an enormous hit.  In fact, I was shocked to learn how big of a hit this movie actually was.  Filmed on a budget of $33 million, Elf earned $220 million.  Surprisingly, that makes it the second highest grossing Will Ferrell movie ever after Wedding Crashers.  Perhaps the most surprising part about that success is that there hasn't been a sequel.  According to IMDb, it hasn't happened because Ferrell turned it down, but I doubt we are out of the woods on that one yet.

Of course a sequel wouldn't be the wost thing where Elf is concerned; the movie is just as charming as I remembered, especially when you're conveniently watching it around this time of year.  Ferrell is of course the ultimate buffoon, and he is masterful at conveying the child-like wonder and naivete of Buddy.  A lot of other actors in this role would just come off as a jerk, or as pandering: Ferrell plays it just right, and he's charming as hell.  Zooey Deschanel is predictably cute as a button, and James Caan has some really hilarious moments as the grumpy Dad (I like to imagine that Sonny actually survived in Godfather, moved to New York, and thirty years later  experienced the events of this movie; of course that's how I imagine every James Caan role).  There are also tons of cameos from various comedy icons and notables celebrities, and none of them, not even Ed Asner and Bob Newhart, seem like they're slumming it.  Amy Sedaris also has a minor role, and Andy Richter and Kyle Gass are absolutely hilarious in their brief appearances.  Peter Dinklage also pops up in Elf, and my suspicions were confirmed: I will never see him in a movie again without thinking of Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones.

Elf has become somewhat of a modern holiday classic, and deservedly so.  It contains just the right amount of sentiment without becoming sappy, it stars genuinely funny people who are funny in it, and it never aspires to be anything more than it is.  Also, perhaps most importantly of all, Will Ferrell has enough charisma to keep it all chugging along smoothly. What more can you ask for?  Director Jon Favreau deserves a lot of credit for all this too: he's actually one of the more underrated directors in recent memory.  Sure, he has some flops on his resume, but a lot of directors would kill to say they were responsible for movies half as entertaining as Iron Man and Elf.  So this Christmas, if you are looking for a relatively recent holiday-themed movie that you can watch with anyone in your family, and won't offend your sense of good taste, you can't do much better than Elf.

Verdict: 6/10