Ever since he became a "name" actor, I've been kind of allergic to Will Ferrell. I mean, "Anchorman" made me laugh a lot more than I'd thought it would, but I'm not rushing out to see the sequel. I hated "Old School" a lot, and it seemed like starting in the middle of the 00's, Ferrell just kept playing the same role in the same movie year after year after year. More than anything else though, the whole man-child as endless source of mirth thing which seems to have been the main-stay of American film comedy for the last decade, has gotten really, really old. And no-one does the man-child thing more naturally than Will Ferrell.
Truth is, though, "Elf" had me laughing my ass off, particularly in the first third of the film where Ferrell is the fish-out-of-water human in an elvish world at the North Pole. And then there's James Caan as a loveable old rogue of a Dad-who-was-never-there-for-me. And Zooey Deschanel - sweet, sweet Zooey Deschanel, who is so very cute as a blonde and actually gets to sing. The very last scene with her in full-on, red-pointie-toe-booted elf costume pouring tea for Papa Elf sent my adorableometer's needle right into the red zone.
*ahem*
This is a genuinely sweet movie that wears its corniness well by not trying to make you take its bucketload of syrup too seriously, while still having enough genuine heart to give you the warm fuzzies. Will Ferrell is perfectly cast as Buddy the elf-raised human (I honestly can't imagine any other actor in this role), Zooey Deschanel is loveable and quirky and very... Deschanelesque and bit parts from Peter Dinklage, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart make this a Christmas film that doesn't suck.
Hell, maybe I should go check out that "Anchorman" sequel...
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