Elf (2003)

“Ferrell is a hoot. So is much of this witty holiday family entertainment, which, up until the end, when the ‘true spirit of Christmas’ must be reaffirmed, happily favors slapstick over treacle.” — Newsweek

SYNOPSIS

Christmas cheer collides with New York cynicism in Jon Favreau’s Elf, an exuberant holiday comedy built around Will Ferrell’s inspired commitment to wide-eyed innocence. Raised at the North Pole after accidentally crawling into Santa’s sack as a baby, Buddy grows up believing himself to be an elf despite several increasingly obvious indications to the contrary. Upon learning the truth, he journeys to Manhattan in search of his biological father (James Caan), a hard-edged children’s-book publisher with little patience for either Christmas spirit or the six-foot man in green tights suddenly calling him Dad. Favreau treats Buddy’s naïveté with affection rather than condescension, allowing Ferrell to turn his encounters with revolving doors, department stores, coffee, and the intricacies of human courtship into a succession of beautifully sustained comic set pieces. Drawing upon the handmade charm of vintage Christmas television specials while setting Buddy loose amid contemporary Manhattan, Elf balances absurdity with genuine sweetness, earning its place as that rare modern holiday movie to become a seasonal tradition almost immediately upon arrival.