You sit on a throne of lies!

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2004)

This review took me some time to write, rewrite, and confirm my thoughts. Over the course of two days, I had to think about this film to make sure that I was putting my correct words down on paper. This film was reminiscent of an airplane take-off. As the plane begins for take-off it taxis around the runway (opening credits) and then gets its engines up to full throttle before eventually lifting into the air (the beginning of the film), but once in the air, we coast and outside of some brief turbulence, you have a smooth flight the rest of the trip. That is how I felt about the film Elf. Director Favreau (of Swingers fame) bursts onto this film with such raw imagination and humor that by the time he gets to New York City, he is panting for air and eventually tired of the entire endeavor. With a medium to medium rare Ferrell, Favreau starts this story with amazing imagery, some moments of classic Christmas television memories, and powerful creativity, but in the end it all reads like a Hollywood playbook. Everyone is in their positions, let's play a good game.
Ferrell is a very funny actor. In fact, I praise him for the return of the 'funny' comedy with his work in Anchorman, but in this film it just feels as if he is going through the motions without the emotion. You could tell that he just didn't feel as comfortable in his role of Buddy as he did as Ron Burgundy. Farrell, and perhaps it was more the writers fault, provided no really memorable lines that the kids will be quoting for years to come nor did he do anything that wasn't already expected of him. I don't think this was his sled, for lack of a better word. Then again, perhaps it didn't work for me because he didn't have the backup he needed. Ferrell is one of those comic geniuses that play off other actors very well and some of the most memorable Ferrell moments are when he is ad-libbing with others. James Caan was a horrible choice as the father. He is cranky, yes, but not from acting. I couldn't help but cringe when I saw him at the end of this film, he was pathetic. I couldn't tell if he was interested in this film, or just needed some extra cash. I felt the same about the rest of the cast that surrounded Ferrell. Deschanel and Steenburgen were completely miscast and literally just walked through the motions spewing lines from their mouths to pay for their new car. The best example is when Zooey says to Ferrell, 'You missed' during the romantic scene. It was worse than poor and amateurish. Wasted talent from Sedaris and Richter only angered me further. The only saving actor from this entire film was Dinklage. He was hysterical and commanded the screen for the few minutes he was on literally stealing the scene from Ferrell. It was a plus in an already full film of minuses.
For this film to really be pinnacle Christmas achievement, it needed some powerful writing that would just have you in your seat laughing because of the words behind Ferrell. Sadly, that could not be found in this film. There wasn't enough originality in the script to make this film really stand out. I saw a glimmer of it when the film began with some of the CGI animals, but that was lost indefinitely after the first ten minutes. When I first started watching this film, I saw it as a combination of all of our favorite Christmas programs. This perception ended when Buddy made it to New York. Riding in a cliché drawn horse and sleigh, we follow Buddy through New York as he attempts to bring humor to the simplest of situations. It felt as if when Favreau found a joke, he never let it go, nearly killing the fun each time. The syrup joke is the first that comes to mind. The second was entire Central Park episode. Everyone involved couldn't pick up the pieces from that 'crash and burn'.
While it sounds like I am sitting here furiously upset with this film, I am not. I went into the film with high expectations, but was left with only medium results. Ferrell was funny, but not Ferrell-funny. He was scripted, almost to the point where you could count his beats. This was a holiday movie, but not one that will be played over and over again in this house. Overall, it was disappointing, but thanks to a little help from Dinklage, it seemed just a tad bit better.
Grade: *** out of *****