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October 30th, 2003

Buddy: Will Ferrell
Buddy's Biological Father: James Caan
Santa Claus: Edward Asner
Jovie: Zooey Deschanel

Directed by Jon Favreau.
Written by David Berenbaum.
Rated PG

At the risk of sounding like a Scrooge, I’m immediately skeptical of any holiday movie that wants to teach me the true meaning of Christmas.  Not that Christmas doesn’t have a true meaning, but so many holiday movies either miss the mark by appending an ancillary connection to consumerism, or ladling on the feel-good schmaltz. 

Walking into Elf, I was also somewhat skeptical of Jon Favreau helming a kiddie Christmas movie.  Sure, Favreau is talented enough to write a classic like Swingers, but in my mind, he’ll always be Vince Vaughn’s neurotic swingin’ sidekick.  On first viewing of Swingers, I was thoroughly impressed with the writing.  I actually thought Favreau had the makings of the next Kevin Smith or, at the very least, the next Edward Burns.  Like Smith and Burns, his writing showed love for dialogue, movies, and relationships.  But Favreau only appeared again as a writer in his humdrum 2001 directorial debut Made.

Adding to my skepticism, there was Will Ferrell, still an unproven movie star.  Throughout his tenure at Saturday Night Live, Ferrell seemed to excel at two particular characterizations: the anal retentive stuffed-shirt, best displayed when portraying Inside the Actor’s Studio’s James Lipton; and the manic frat boy.  He was funny when working either of these two personas in a skit, but he was downright hilarious when he brought both characterizations into one skit - the stuffed-shirt erupting into crazed frat boy.  Ferrell wasn’t given the opportunity to exploit both characterizations in the same vehicle until the fairly funny Old School, in which he fully unleashed his comedic Jekyll and Hyde. 

In Elf, Favreau directs Ferrell as Buddy, who as an infant accidentally crawls into Santa's toy bag.  When arriving in the North Pole, Buddy is lovingly adopted by Santa’s elves.   The grown-up Buddy is a human giant among the elves -- a Ferdinand the Bull misfit, lumbering through undersized sets.  One day his adopted father, played by Bob Newhart, finally reveals the truth – that Buddy is adopted and his biological father lives in New York City.  And what’s worse, his father is on the “naughty list.”  Buddy then travels to Manhattan to teach his father the true meaning of Christmas.

Elf starts out promising.  Favreau models his North Pole after the classic1964 version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.   The sets and animation are all circa '64 Rudolph, complete with giant falling snow flakes and little claymation creatures that appear to be misfit toys.  There’s even a nod to Burl Ives who played Sam the Snowman and the narrator of Rudolph.  And there’s also the promise of Shrek-like irreverence when we’re introduced to the world of the elves through narrator Newhart: the three main occupations of the elves are cobblers, toy-makers, and of course, tree dwelling cookie-makers.     

The Rudolph reminiscence and Christmas TV Special nostalgia gave me hope that Favreau and Ferrell could actually pull off a decent holiday comedy.  But just when my skepticism was starting to melt away, Buddy leaves the North Pole and things go horribly formulaic.

Once Buddy arrives in Manhattan, Elf becomes a fish out of water comedy, though Ferrell’s man-child in New York antics get tired very quickly.  Elf basically becomes a Yuletide version of Big, with Ferrell trying to channel his inner Tom Hanks.  To make the sloppy recycling less obvious, Buddy runs amok in a department store called Gimbels, NOT the FAO Schwarz department store used in Big.  

I’m not saying Ferrell is an actor of limited range, but Elf doesn’t allow him to fully play to his comedic strengths.  Since it’s a family friendly Christmas movie, he has to keep his frat boy in check.  And Ferrell plays Buddy too child-like to work his stuffed-shirt routine.

A lot of the blame goes to the writer David Barenbaum, who often resorts to recycled jokes – a cardinal sin of comedy.  Like a harbinger of flat jokes to come, Buddy’s first introduction to the real world is an altercation with a surly raccoon.  Buddy tries to hug it, thus setting off the supposedly funny visual gag of seeing a stuffed animal thrown at Ferrell’s neck; he catches it, holds it to his neck, and pantomimes efforts to pry it off.  And, of course, there’s the perfunctory first-time-on-an-escalator gag.  In the very least, Barenbaum fulfills Ferrell’s seemingly contractual obligation to drop trou in every movie he appears in – but it’s done tastefully since it’s a kiddie movie.

Of course, there’s a romantic interest for Buddy.  At Gimbels, he meets department store elf Jovie, played by the cute-as-a-button Zooey Deschanel.   It’s surprising that Favreau, who proved to have a built-in bullshit detector when writing about romance in Swingers, would allow these two to come together so artificially.  We’re given zero reason for Jovie to fall for this guy.  Of course, there’s the montage where Buddy’s childlike ways remind her of pre-cynical love.  But why Jovie agrees to go on a date with Buddy in the first place remains a mystery.   Not since Patricia Arquette’s sweet-natured character fell for Adam Sandler’s imbecilic character in Little Nicky has there been a more unlikely comedy romance.

As for other disappointments, the casting of Andy Richter (Late Night with Conan O’Brien) and Kyle Gass, Jack Black’s significant other in Tenacious D, would have been inspired in most comedies, but in Elf, their talents are wasted.  And one may feel embarrassed for Peter Dinklage, who transcended his diminutive stature in the engrossing The Station Agent, yet must again play the standard short-tempered dwarf role in Elf.  

Though many in the Elf cast suffer from poor writing -- particularly the talented, yet miscast James Caan -- there are a few standouts.  It’s no surprise that the always delightful Newhart plays the perfect elf father to Buddy, but it’s relative newcomer Faizon Love who reveals sly comedic talents in his role as the Elf Manager at Gimbels.  Love was one of the few memorable parts of Favreau’s Made.  In Elf, his constant aggravation with Buddy is a well-spring of laughs, especially when he has to don department store Santa duds after his original Santa gets into a fight with Buddy.

With it being the holiday season and all, I was almost willing to turn the other cheek and give Elf a favorable review - but that was before the comedy’s climax.  The entire city of New York proves their renewed Christmas spirit by singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in the streets.  It’s a wince-inducing conceit recycled from 1989’s Ghostbusters 2 when all the population of the Big Apple have to think happy thoughts in order for Bill Murray and Co. to defeat the bad guy.

I just wish there could have been more follow through after Elf’s first act in the North Pole.  Maybe Buddy could have bumped into the elves of Lord of the Rings – imagine Ferrell and Orlando Bloom’s Legolas meeting up in Central Park for tea and lembas bread.  But no, it goes soft and becomes the standard holiday meringue - over-sweetened and over-baked.  Elf probably won’t catapult Ferrell to legitimate comedy superstardom just yet.  And as for Elf’s attempt to teach me the true meaning of Christmas, I say “bah-humbug.”

Copyright (c) 2003
Bryan Stumpf.
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