ELF
Comedy
1 hr. 35 min. As a baby, Buddy crawls into Santa's toy bag and is whisked
off to the North Pole, where he is raised as an elf. A misfit who grows
to be three times the size of his elf family, Buddy ultimately heads to
his birthplace of New York City to seek out his roots. Unfortunately,
they turn out to be a "Scrooge"-like father and a cynical ten-year-old
stepbrother who doesn't believe in Santa. Worst of all, everyone seems
to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. But using his simple
elf ways, Buddy sets out to single-handedly win over his family and save
Christmas in New York, hoping to at last find his true place in the world.
Release Date: November 7th, 2003 (wide).
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild rude humor and language.
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Starring:
Katie Asner Will Ferrell
Ed Asner Mary Steenburgen
James Caan Bob Newhart
Amy Sedaris Andy Richter
Daniel Tay Faizon Love
Peter Billingsley Peter Dinklage
Zooey Deschanel
Director: Jon Favreau
Producer: Shauna Robertson
Jon Berg
Todd Komarnicki
Shauna Weinberg
Screenwriter: Jon Favreau
David Berenbaum
Executive Producer: Jon Berg
Kent Alterman
Cale Boyter
Jimmy Miller
Julie Wixson Darmody
| Critics Reviews |
Average Grade: |
B |
|
| Source |
Brief Review |
Grade* |
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie |
"An
instant Christmas classic." more... |
A- |
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris |
"...a
sincere piece of feel-good commercialism." more... |
B |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert |
"This
is one of those rare Christmas comedies that has a heart, a
brain and a wicked sense of humor, and it charms the socks right
off the mantelpiece." more... |
B |
Chicago Tribune
Robert K. Elder |
"...Ferrell...keeps
us laughing even through some very obvious fish-out-of-water
jokes." more... |
B |
| E! Online |
"Though
a little more mildly paced and breezy than you might expect,
this isn't a stretched-out skit either." more... |
B |
filmcritic.com
Sean O'Connell |
"For
those of you with a belly laugh on your wish list, Christmas
has come early this year." more... |
A- |
Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen |
"Will
Ferrell is hilarious in this delightful elf-out-of-water holiday
confection." more... |
B |
New York Post
Megan Lehmann |
"You
will love it." more... |
B |
New York Times
A.O. Scott |
"The
movie succeeds because it at once restrains its sticky, gooey
good cheer and wildly overdoes it." more... |
B |
ReelViews
James Berardinelli |
"...Elf
is more likely to end up on the snow pile of forgettable Christmas-themed
movies than in the vault of memorable ones." more... |
C+ |
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers |
"Even
a PG rating can't constrict Ferrell..." more... |
C |
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle |
"...Elf
is funny and intelligently made, a film for kids and adults
that's both sweet and sardonic." more... |
B+ |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker |
"Its
big-hearted charm is a one-size-fits-all gift." more... |
B |
USA Today
Claudia Puig |
"Its
message is unobjectionable, and there are a few laughs to be
had, but too much of Elf is like Buddy's favorite meals:
syrupy sweet." more... |
C |
|
Movie reviews
Grade: A-
Verdict: An instant Christmas classic.
By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
web site: http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/content/shared/movies/elf.html
Filmmaker Jon Favreau has stuck his thumb into the maelstrom that is the
holiday movie season and pulled out a big fat sugar plum of a Christmas
picture. Done with a canny playfulness that nonetheless keeps the faith
in all things Santa, "Elf" is a sure-thing Christmas perennial.
Buddy the elf (Will Ferrell) isn't like the other busy bees in Santa's
workshop. For one thing, he's more than 6 feet tall. For another, well,
as his adored Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) confesses, Buddy isn't an elf at
all. He's a human who, as an abandoned infant, climbed into Santa's (Ed
Asner) sack one Christmas Eve.
So Buddy bids his gingerbready, snow-globey North Pole home goodbye and
sets off for a slightly less enchanted place: Manhattan. Luckily, the
trip's not hard -- into the candy cane forest, past the sea of swirly,
twirly gum drops and a short walk through the Lincoln Tunnel.
Buddy expects he and his long-lost dad will spend their time making snow
angels, cuddling and eating spaghetti covered in marshmallows, pop tarts
and Hershey syrup. However, Dad (James Caan) turns out to be the sort
who usually ends up on Santa's naughty list. A bad-tempered publisher
of children's books, he isn't exactly thrilled when a lunatic in a green
jacket, yellow tights and shoes with turned-up toes turns up in his office
and calls him Daddy.
"Elf" comes down to a basic fish-out-of-water tale, but it's
adorned with so much Christmas good cheer that it's irresistible. As is
Ferrell in a career-making role. With his curly hair and air of affable
anarchy, he could be channeling Harpo Marx.
Zanily exuberant and wistfully naive, Buddy isn't just an overgrown elf;
he's an overgrown child, embodying all the wonder and chestnut-roasting
warmth of Christmastime. But while Buddy can be touching, Ferrell never
loses sight of the character's manic energy and sugar-rush excitement.
Briefly employed at Gimbels department store (where he meets and falls
for Santa helper Zooey Deschanel), he's aghast when the store Santa (Howard
Stern sidekick Artie Lange) arrives. "You sit on a throne of lies!"
he snarls.
The supporting cast adds to the general merriment. Newhart, so underused
in movies, is deliciously deadpan, even with an oversized Ferrell sitting
on his lap. Caan redeems a dozen bad performances as a harried businessman
with a bah-humbug streak. Asner is just the kind of gruff but good-hearted
fellow Santa should be. And not only is Deschanel a great choice over
the usual sugar-plum-fairy blonde, she also gives a beautiful and sexy
rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
Neophyte writer David Berenbaum adds all the right touches. When Buddy
answers the phone at Caan's office, he asks the caller's favorite color.
When he gets angry with himself, he spits out an accusing "cotton-headed
ninny-muggins!" The ending tries too hard, but it's worth it to see
Santa's sleigh careening through the concrete canyons of the Big Apple.
Like the stockings hung by the chimney in "'Twas the Night Before
Christmas," "Elf" has been made with care. And a big, silly
grin. It's the sort of holiday treat even a Grinch would love.
-----------------------------------------
By Wesley Morris, Globe Staff
Boston Globe
web site: http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=2055
Does the name Will Ferrell say ''holiday cheer''? Does it evoke Eskimo
kisses and unspiked eggnog? Or a fervid belief in Santa, Christmas carols,
and hugs? No, but ''Elf'' does. The movie sets Ferrell's assaultive and
juvenile physical comedy in a less-combative playground, and the result
might leave the Ferrell-intolerant exiting the theater on a high.
Directed by Jon Favreau from a screenplay by David Berenbaum, ''Elf''
casts Ferrell as Buddy, a human orphan who has been raised at the North
Pole as one of Santa's little helpers. Never mind that watching him sit
on the lap of his adoptive father (a shrunken Bob Newhart) is like seeing
Yao Ming frolic atop Jeff Van Gundy. Like a giant who has grown up in
a doll's house, Ferrell duckwalks through Rusty Smith's delicate-looking
sets, and in a feat of rare self-control does not bust them up. Eventually,
Buddy catches wind of the news that he's not an elf but the son of a bigwig
New York children's-book executive (James Caan).
With the blessing of Santa Claus (Ed Asner) and his adoptive father, Buddy
walks from the North Pole to midtown Manhattan. His disbelieving father,
Walter, takes a paternity test, which to his dismay is positive. Soon
Buddy has moved into his apartment, festooned the place in paper chains
and snowflakes, and befriended Walter's wife (Mary Steenburgen, nicely
rejuvenated) and his neglected 11-year-old son (Daniel Tay). Walter reluctantly
takes his newly arrived son to work and puts him in the mailroom, where
hell is promptly raised.
Naturally, the movie is headed for a big, healing family-flick thaw,
but Favreau, who as an actor is a sort of big, lovable lug, doles out
sentiment without a whole lot of schmaltz. He's responsible for turning
''Elf'' from a series of amusing sight gags into a sincere piece of feel-good
commercialism.
Favreau gets considerable mileage from Ferrell running around the city
in yellow tights and a green jacket. That's only slightly stranger than
when Buddy starts hanging out in the ''North Pole'' area of Gimbel's department
store (defunct in reality but alive and well here). This ersatz pole --
managed by a teddy bear of a dude (Faizon Love) whose nametag says ''Wanda''
-- sorely lacks Christmas spirit. Buddy stays overnight and gives the
place an authentic polar makeover: lots of lights and cotton snow. And
it's long after that he's attacking the fake Santa and falling in love
with Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), a dour girl playing the role of an elf on
the Gimbel's payroll.
Ferrell's unruly man-child shtick is the secret weapon of most of his
movies, and as such his only responsibility is to blast a hole in the
proceedings with his rambunctious id. The difference between Ferrell here
and his brilliantly unhinged work in ''Old School'' is -- pardon me --
subtle. He exhibits a nearly human range of feeling in ''Elf'' that suggests
that he may actually be aware of such things as character development
and emotional arcs.
As well-behaved and appealing as Ferrell is, Deschanel lights up the
movie. She says her lines in the same sort of barbecued way that Debra
Winger does, and her eyes are those of a skeptic who wants to believe.
In the film's biggest surprise, she sings ''Baby, It's Cold Outside''
and to her shock is joined by Buddy. Her half of the rendition sounds
as balmy as Ella Fitzgerald's and Pearl Bailey's. ''Elf'' tries earnestly
to say that family is the greatest Christmas gift, but by the end of the
movie, Deschanel is the only thing we want under the tree.
-------------------------------------------
New Line Cinema presents a film directed by Jon Favreau. Written by David
Berenbaum. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated PG (for some mild rude humor
and language).
BY ROGER EBERT from http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-elf07f.html
If I were to tell you "Elf" stars Will Ferrell as a human named
Buddy who thinks he is an elf and Ed Asner as Santa Claus, would you feel
an urgent desire to see this film? Neither did I. I thought it would be
clunky, stupid and obvious, like "The Santa Clause 2" or "How
the Grinch Stole Christmas." It would have grotesque special effects
and lumber about in the wreckage of holiday cheer, foisting upon us a
chaste romance involving the only girl in America who doesn't know that
a man who thinks he is an elf is by definition a pervert.
That's what I thought it would be. It took me about 10 seconds of seeing
Will Ferrell in the elf costume to realize how very wrong I was. This
is one of those rare Christmas comedies that has a heart, a brain and
a wicked sense of humor, and it charms the socks right off the mantelpiece.
Even the unexpected casting is on the money. James Caan as the elf's biological
father. Yes! Bob Newhart as his adoptive elf father. Yes! Mary Steenburgen
as Caan's wife, who welcomes an adult son into her family. Yes! Zooey
Deschanel as the girl who works in a department store and falls for his
elfin charm. Yes! Faizon Love as Santa's elf manager -- does it get any
better than this? Yes, it does. Peter Dinklage, who played the dwarf in
"The Station Agent," has a brief but sublime scene in which
he cuts right to the bottom line of elfhood.
"Elf," directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum,
begins with a tragic misunderstanding on a Christmas long ago. As Santa
Claus is making his rounds, a human orphan crawls into his sack and accidentally
hitches a ride to the North Pole. Raised as an elf by Papa Elf (Newhart),
he knows he's at least four feet taller than most of the other elves,
and eventually he decides to go to New York City and seek out his birth
father.
This is Walter (Caan), a hard-bitten publisher whose heart does not instantly
melt at the prospect of a 6-foot man in a green tunic and yellow stretch
tights, who says he is his son. But when Buddy drops the name of Walter's
long-lost girlfriend, a faraway look appears in the old man's eyes, and
soon Buddy is invited home, where Mary Steenburgen proves she is the only
actress in America who could welcome her husband's out-of-wedlock elf
into her family and make us believe she means it.
The plot is pretty standard stuff, involving a crisis at the old man's
publishing company and a need for a best-selling children's book, but
there are sweet subplots involving Buddy's new little brother Michael
(Daniel Tay), and Buddy's awkward but heartfelt little romance with the
department store girl (Deschanel). Plus heart-tugging unfinished business
at the North Pole.
Of course there's a big scene involving Buddy's confrontation with the
department store Santa Claus, who (clever elf that he is) Buddy instantly
spots as an imposter. "You sit on a throne of lies!" he tells
this Santa.
Indeed the whole world has grown too cynical, which is why Santa is facing
an energy crisis this year. His sleigh is powered by faith, and if enough
people don't believe in Santa Claus, it can't fly. That leads to one of
those scenes where a flying machine (in this case, oddly enough, the very
sleigh we were just discussing) tries to fly and doesn't seem to be able
to achieve takeoff velocity, and ... well, it would be a terrible thing
if Santa were to go down in flames, so let's hope Buddy persuades enough
people to believe. It should be easy. He convinced me that this was a
good movie, and that's a miracle on 34th street right there.
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