When \Old School"" came out last spring, many of us hoped that Will Ferrell's hysterical performance would lead him to become the next solid comedic leading man to graduate from ""Saturday Night Live."" Now, with ""Elf,"" he has not only solidified his burgeoning status as a star of the silver screen, but he has a movie to show for it that reaches beyond his previous audience of high school and college kids, without leaving us behind in the process.
""Elf"" tells the story of Buddy (Ferrell), a large man who was adopted by North Pole elves at an early age and raised to believe he was an elf. Eventually, his size and poor working skills lead him to find out that he is actually a human whose mother died long before. He decides to go to New York City in search of his father (James Caan). When he arrives, he finds his father to be a cold-hearted businessman with a wife and young son. The movie follows Buddy as he tries to find his place, both in his family and in society.
Directed by Jon Favreau, ""Elf"" starts out uncomfortably as it does not exactly feel right for an audience of either children or adults. But as the movie progresses, it turns into that rare production that has jokes, themes and imagery perfectly suited for children, while featuring just enough adult humor and timeless values to appeal to older audiences.
Ferrell spearheads the movie's success. As The Onion's AV Club astutely pointed out in their recent interview with him, Ferrell's mastery is that when he takes on these out-of-control characters, he does it with total conviction and with the sense that he buys into his performance completely. Never has that been more the case than here. Ferrell takes on the child-like innocence and naivet?? of his character without missing a step. His performance is intermittently reminiscent of Tom Hanks' turn in ""Big."" He also manages to work in his hammy and hyperactive slapstick.
Favreau also deserves credit. While his last noticeable directorial effort was the unremarkable ""Made,"" here Favreau crafts an imperfect, but occasionally outstanding movie. He stylizes the North Pole scenes in really creative ways and makes the New York scenes endlessly fun.
Above all, it is the movie's heart that pulls through. Something about the universal quality of the movie's values and the strength of Caan's contrast to Ferrell makes the whole thing work. Favreau does a brilliant job of depicting Santa Claus, making St. Nick seem fresh and exciting in a way that accentuates Ferrell's surprisingly tender performance. And the movie's last 15 minutes are truly spectacular for holiday fare.
""Elf"" is short and a bit uneven, but it does not matter in the end. Ferrell's charm and the movie's heartfelt and skillfully packaged values make it the perfect remedy for the stress of classes, even for people who are not big on holiday spirit.
With the mediocre level of recent American romantic comedies, chick-flick dominance has moved across the Atlantic. Having penned the scripts for ""Notting Hill,"" ""Four Weddings and a Funeral"" and ""Bridget Jones' Diary,"" Richard Curtis is, without question, king of the romantic Brits. Now his directorial debut ""Love Actually,"" has brought us a big-hearted and convincingly optimistic tribute to big-screen romance.
The Christmas-centered ""Love Actually"" tells nine separate love stories in an interconnected style. Among these stories is an English prime minister (Hugh Grant) who falls for a member of his staff, a newly widowed father (Liam Neeson) whose young son needs help pursuing his puppy love and a young man (Kris Marshall) who thinks his love life might fare better in stateside. and consequently travels to Wisconsin.
What works so well about the movie is its varying style. Three of the stories are told in a mostly straightforward and serious style, three of them are goofy and used for comic relief and three of them-the ones featuring Grant, Neeson and Colin Firth-are told in the clumsily funny and romantic style of Curtis' other work.
Of course, it is impossible to discuss ""Love Actually"" without discussing its phenomenal cast. Watching an ensemble romantic comedy with Grant, Firth, Neeson, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley and Laura Linney is an absolute joy. And that is before mentioning strong bit performances from Rowan Atkinson and Billy Bob Thornton.
None of this is to say that ""Love Actually"" is a perfect movie. The splicing together of the different storylines is sometimes awkward and the movie features an odd amount of nudity for something so similar in tone to ""Notting Hill."" The very ending also feels tacked-on and uncomfortable, because of the different tones of the stories.
But no matter how much awkwardness the movie inevitably faces, ""Love Actually"" makes up for it. Even if some aspects of the ending are lackluster, other parts of the ending are transcendently sweet in all the cheapest ways. Some people are naturally adverse to romantic comedies like this, but that is their problem. ""Love Actually"" is a breathtakingly cute movie and every minute of it is a guilty pleasure well worth the price of admission.
