Elf (2003)

I think I owe Elf an apology.

I watched this on video in the early 2000’s because of Will Ferrell in an elf suit.  I mean, that was the pitch of the movie after he wore something similar during a late-night talk show interview.  I disliked most of his movies because I get bored with improvised dialogue, but Ferrell is funny and I was looking for another Christmas movie to add to the rotation.

I kinda hated it. My problem with comedies during that time was that they weren’t really movies.  They were an assemblage of sketches with a common theme.  If you watch movies from that era again, note the 65- to 70-minute mark, when the premise they came up with runs out of steam for a theatrical release.  Then wacky shit happens until the credits roll.  You can have a comedy movie with a complete story.  It’s not that hard.  In my memory, that’s what Elf was.  Two-thirds of a movie.

Will Ferrell in the elf suit, comedy hijinks, Zoey Deschanel with blonde hair, more hijinks, some solid jokes, and goofy gags.  Then the movie comes to a screeching halt and becomes a short film about a news reporter doing a remote from Central Park. The end.

I rewatched it this week and it’s not nearly as irritating as the first time around.   I laughed a few times and Ferrell really delivers a cartoonishly giddy performance.  The story isn’t much and there are some odd choices, like the setting of a children’s book publisher and Gimbel’s which did not exist at the time.  The ending still drags on and it happens after the reconciliation between Buddy and his father.  The story is wrapped up, but the movie keeps going like a drunk uncle that doesn’t get the hint and lingers too long after Christmas dinner.

It was a lot better.  But I still wasn’t that thrilled.  But now I know why.  James Caan.

The late great James Caan plays Buddy the Elf’s long-lost father and it felt like Caan could not wait to get the fuck out of there.  He was joyless and stiff.  Grumpy and distracted.  You are supposed to be a straight man to a giant 40-year-old goofball in a stupid hat, but Caan was just the wrong curmudgeon for that role.  Ed Asner played Santa, so maybe old farts were popular at the time. 

However, it passes all the Christmas movie tests with flying colors.  Story, tone, setting.  Santa is a character and is concerned with Christmas cheer.  You have family stuff and a cute love story that makes no sense.  It’s a perfect Christmas combo.  Its like a toasty warm bowl of homemade chicken soup.  Except James Caan’s performance that serves as three too many shakes of black pepper that taints each bite. 

I want to like Elf more.  I need to like Elf more.  It’s full of silliness and fun and that’s how I like my Christmas seasons.  And my life.  My decorations at home are fun, not classy and mature.  I like the bright colors and goofier songs and sugary treats.  Buddy reminds me to be a nutjob in the face of this stuffy, boring world.  It is an act of defiance.  Life is more than what we are saddled with every day.  It’s more than bills and jobs and the news and chores.  Christmas itself is one of those holidays that forces everyone to take a break, regardless of your connection to it, and see the world a little differently.

I’ll try to put Elf in the rotation.  I promise. I’m sure after 300 more viewings I’ll love it as much as everyone else.