Not Your Typical Christmas Story.

Rating: Null/10 (9 December 2003)

Former "Saturday Night Live" standout Will Farrell stars as a man who was actually reared at the North Pole by Santa Claus (Ed Asner) and a group of kind and loving elves (led by Bob Newhart) after he wandered into Asner's bag of toys by accident one night at an orphanage when he was a baby. Fast-forward 30 years and the secret is finally out that Farrell is really human and that his father (James Caan) hails from New York City of all places. Now Farrell decides to leave the only home he has ever known in order to hopefully fit in with the human world, but his transition is difficult with usually hilarious results. "Elf" is another one of those productions this year that I liked even though there is really not as much substance as I would have hoped. Farrell, who was the only redeeming thing in the disgusting "Old School", is basically given free-will to run everything in the show and ends up dominating with a consistent performance that is surprisingly believable and definitely comical. Everyone else is present, but Farrell proves to be a true comedic force almost by himself. Overall the good messages sent by the film, the smart Christmas undertones and some very creative attempts at entertaining its audience are all enough to make "Elf" a strange winner that could best be described as the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. 4 stars out of 5.