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Elf
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Will Ferrell,
James Caan, Edward Asner, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen, Artie
Lange |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG |
| Released By: |
New Line Cinema |
| Web Site: |
www.elfmovie.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Bring everyone
along. |
| Date Movie: |
Bring her along
too. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Nah. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Buddy the Elf
beating up the fake Santa. |
| Action: |
Nah. |
| Laughs: |
Lots of them. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Buddy the Elf
beating up the fake Santa. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Too many to list. |
| Directed By: |
Jon Favreau |
| Produced By: |
Jon Berg, Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Weinberg |
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Elf
A Movie Review |
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Here's my advice to Will Farrell, and take it for what it's
worth: Please don't try to play a dramatic actor. Your niche
is comedy, and you are great at it, and you are quickly
showing that any branch of comedy can be yours. Please don't
set yourself up for a fall playing a dramatic role, no
matter what the folks say. Anyway, on to Elf...It seems that on one of his Christmas runs Santa picked up a
wayward baby from an orphanage. Not really knowing what to do, Santa
kept the baby for his own. Alright, not really his own, but Santa
decided he should be raised as an elf. And so we get Buddy (Will
Farrell), a little oversized for the miniature world of Santa’s
helpers. And yes, he didn't really figure out something was different
about him until one day his surrogate dad, Bob Newhart (In a fabulous
role I must say), had to break the news that true, Buddy was not an
elf, and yes, his father was in New York City and on the naughty
person list.
So Buddy is off to NYC to find his father and bring a little
Christmas cheer to the folks in the big city. Now yes, you have to
suspend a lot of disbelief that things are happening, but then again,
it is a story about Santa and his elves. In NYC, Buddy does find his
dad, and dad is a not-so-great man. Turns out he is a children's book
publisher, and not an honest one at that.
And so Buddy is welcomed into Dad's home, mom accepts this thirty
year old dude in tights, and Buddy quickly becomes best friends with
his half-brother when he shows off his snow-ball skills.
But is the story cute for kids? I thought so, especially since most
of the kids in the audience seemed to be having as good a time at the
film as I was. They got the potty humor, the love story wasn't that
sappy, and in the end we get the cliché ending we are totally
expecting.
Elf works for two reasons. One we get just a nice little Christmas
story about a naive elf finding himself in the big city trying to
spread Christmas cheer. Two, we get a perfectly cast movie. Edward
Asner as Santa is terrific. He's in a predicament with Buddy and works
that out. He has problems with his sleigh and works that out, and in
the end is the embodiment of Christmas. James Caan as the dad is
great, too, at first just working to make a buck for the company, but
then realizing family is just as important. Zooey Deschanel as the
love interest is innocent enough, and Mary Steenburgen as mom actually
comes off as believable letting buddy into their home. But the two
standouts for me were Bob Newhart in a perfectly cast role, as the
head elf, in charge of being buddy's dad yet having to break him the
bad news. The other standout is Farrell. He comes off as the innocent
one in a movie that could have him as just a dufus, and his scene when
he confronts the "fake Santa" at the store (Artie Lange from the
Howard Stern Show) is just fabulous.
Elf seemed to be enjoyed by most of everyone in the theater when I
was there, although one joke did seem to go over most people's heads,
the one about the baby asparagus being self conscious because their
pee smelled (am I the only one familiar with asparagus pee?). Maybe
not for the really young one, but I think Elf is pretty great for the
whole family.
It's 4 stars out of 5 for Elf.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
