Movie Reviews

Will Farrell plays a goofy kid better than any other adult actor I can think of, and he really shows off this 'special acting ability' in Jon Favreau's new Christmas movie, Elf.

Will Farrell plays Buddy, a human who, as an orphaned child, snuck into Santa's bag one Christmas while Santa was putting gifts under the orphanage's tree. Santa unknowingly carries Buddy back to the North Pole inside his bag, and later decides that he can stay and be raised as if he were an elf. Humans, unfortunately, just aren't that good at doing certain things when compared to elves, so as Buddy grows up he has a hard time fitting in in at Santa's workshop. One day, Buddy overhears two other elves bemoaning the fact that as a human, Buddy just isn't a very good elf. This shocks Buddy of course, because for his whole life he'd just assumed that he was an abnormally big elf. Upon learning the truth, Buddy decides that he must head to New York to meet the father who abandoned him, and most of the film involves Buddy trying to adapt to a world that he knows nothing about.

The previews and commercials for Elf made it look pretty dumb, as they seemed to highlight Will Farrell acting like, well, a goofy kid. Turns out it's a really funny movie, though, in large part because the rest of the cast plays everything really straight and serious (even Ed Asner as Santa). Most of the other characters see Buddy as some kind of wacko freak, and most of the humour comes from Buddy's continuous childish behaviour and overexhuberance in spite of the fact that everyone else obviously thinks it's all really weird.

This is the kind of Christmas comedy that can work really well for both kids and adults, I think. Kids will like it because Farrell plays up his childishness and goofiness. Adults will also probably be amused by this, but they'll also enjoy how Farrell's goofiness completely bemuses everyone else (at one point, Farrell -- still dressed in his really silly green and yellow elf costume -- is hit by a taxi while crossing the street. He stands up unharmed afterwards, then apologizes to the car).

I have a feeling Elf is poised to become a real 'classic' Christmas comedy, in the tradition of A Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Despite what you might've thought of the advertisements, this is the sort of movie I can't really imagine anyone not liking.