A holiday holiday

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2009)

"Elf" was yet another Will Ferrel film that I thought from previews was just going to be silly and stupid.
I've learned by now to get over my prejudices going into "Silly and Stupid" Will Ferrel films. They almost all are that. But somehow they are also funny, and tell stories with more depth than I would ever have imagined. By the way, the same phenomena happens with me regarding Adam Sandler movies. I always think they sound horrible, and I always have far more than my average share of laughs for a comedy.
In elf, its unimaginable that an actor of Ferrel's age can bring off the complete naivety required for a human raised at the North Pole who enters American society as an adult. Yet he brings it off the same way be brings off all of his unlikely sounding roles.
Of course, in the process the people he interacts with learn that a little naivety and purity of heart can be a good thing. Yes, there is both slapstick and (mild) gross out comedy, but overall this is a quite entertaining movie, and a suitable Christmas comedy for kids and parent to watch together.