Elf: 2003, dir. Jon Favreau. Seen on DVD (Jan. 6).
Oh, this movie is goooood. Real good.
And I mean that in the sense that after being on the receiving end of some spectacular display of bullshit, you look up at the person responsible and say, “Oh, you’re good.” Maybe you fell for it, whatever it was, but you are still aware enough of the mechanics behind it to be able to see through it and know, yeah, that’s pretty damn slick.
That’s Elf for you.
Now don’t get me wrong. I liked watching Elf. I laughed a whole lot. It will probably join my list of movies to watch while wrapping Christmas presents. I have no objection to watching it again if someone puts it on TV while I’m around.
But I am cynical enough to see that Elf is a triumph of marketing-based commercial filmmaking, that it pulls every string perfectly, that the filmmakers were absolutely aware of what an audience wants out of a film and delivered just that.
Let’s see. A Christmas movie. A Christmas movie can be a fine thing to work on, because if it’s good, people want to see it every year. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t explode at the box office, because it has legs like nobody’s business.
The movie contains all the standard Christmas-movie trimmings. Whimsical characters in silly costumes who spread joy wherever they go. The neglected child, virtually ignored by dad. Cute waifs appearing throughout. The crusty old Scrooge figure in need of Christmas spirit. A big department store (amusingly called Gimbel’s) full of gorgeous presents. Ice skating. Disbelievers who are converted by a Genuine Christmas Miracle. Group singing. A happy ending for everyone.
It all seems just a little bit too calculated, as if someone sat down and wrote out the cinematic equivalent of a mathematical formula for the perfect family Christmas movie, something that would draw a diverse audience for years to come.
(And I must take issue with the idea of a children’s picture-book author who is so successful that he has a bunch of houses all decked out with high-tech toys. Authors who are not J.K. Rowling do not make that much money. It would be nice if they did, of course.)
Just look at the product placement in this movie. Yes, I know, these are toymaking elves. You need to show lots of toys. And the toys they show are very simple—timeless, really, so when you see this movie in 10 years it will have the same effect. Legos. Lite-Brite. Etch-A-Sketch. But there’s a whole lot of stuff in this movie, generally speaking.
What lifts this movie above its formulaic construction is the acting. The actors were very well chosen and all of them do a splendid job. Will Ferrell was fine, although this isn’t the movie that convinces me he would be a good Ignatius Reilly. I hadn’t seen any movies with Zooey Deschanel before and I liked her very much. She may have been the best thing about the movie, with her charming combination of cynicism and cuteness. My boyfriend liked her even more. James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Andy Richter … and I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it, but Bob Newhart as an elf and Ed Asner as Santa Claus.
Jon Favreau, the director, has a brief cameo as a pediatrician. I had only known him previously as that guy who played the techie millionaire on Friends, but he does a capable job steering this movie through its predictable paces.
The soundtrack is also delightful. I haven’t had the urge to buy any Christmas music, but if I do, this would be at the top of the list.
I am grateful to discover a movie that I could watch with my entire family. Very little potty humor, so my mom can’t complain, but enough to amuse my dad. Very little sexism or other nasty stereotyping, so I don’t have to hide in another room and growl. Elf is universally entertaining in its way and is generally inoffensive.
But I want a little more from my movies—even holiday movies—than generally inoffensive, slickly designed films aimed to please just about everyone. That’s why my favorite Christmas movies are Brazil and Bad Santa. I could watch those movies any time of the year and be vastly entertained. Elf is suitable for viewing with the relatives at Christmas, and that’s about it.