Best Crimbo movie in years!

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2003)

The first lead outing for Will Ferrell is a rare thing for modern times. A nice Christmas film with some real Christmas spirit that is also genuinely good. It has the right balance of being nice and festive while also being funny. Recent years have seen a depressing lack in good Christmas movies, with many just being straight to video or being too childish, like The Grinch. At Christmas time we should have Christmas movies. They have dried up though and when you look at Christmas TV listings there is a big lack there. True most are not very good but the best ones should be shown.
Elf is funny and charming. It's a nice, if derivative story. Seasonal films can rarely be all that original though. Elf however is better than most and has added in a few original touches.
Will Ferrell is superb, he's full of energy, he has charm and I can see a great future for him. While seasoned SNL veteran's like Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy are faltering, Will is just launching himself and it looks like he could be a good leading man to rival the likes of Jim Carrey. He's a great comedian and a superb physical comic too. James Caan is good too and so is Mary Steenburgen but Ferrell absolutely steals the show.
I look forward to Ferrell's future work and I think I may have to hire out Old School as well. ***1/2