After 20 years, ‘Elf’ is an established holiday classic
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There aren’t many films as purely happy as Jon Favreau’s 2003 hit “Elf.” The Christmas classic, which was released 20 years ago last month, has managed to endure for so long because of the maniacal playfulness at its core, which set it apart from the suburban, family-oriented holiday films of decades past.
“Elf” is technically still a story about a family, but an exceedingly weird one. It’s probably well known to most: a middle-aged Christmas elf named Buddy discovers he is a human being and travels to New York to find his real father. However, “Elf” shines best as a sugary fish-out-of-water comedy, like “Being There” meets “The Santa Clause.”
Will Ferrell, as Buddy, gives what is still his funniest and most essential screen performance. Buddy is the prototype for the boldly naive permanent-teenagers whom Ferrell would go on to play in films like “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Step Brothers.”
Like those later characters, Buddy is obnoxious and hyperactive, but Ferrell gives him such a deep and undefended sweetness that his antics come across as charming. He approaches even the smallest tasks with breathless curiosity, from making breakfast to sorting mail.
Naturally, most other characters in the movie despise Buddy. His estranged father Walter, a high-strung publishing executive played by the late James Caan, quickly writes him off as delusional. When Buddy tries to keep a job in the big city, he immediately comes to blows with his taskmaster boss. Even back in the North Pole, his adopted father Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) is exasperated by Buddy’s size and clumsiness.
This tension between cynicism and Buddy’s holiday joy is what makes “Elf” unique among other timeless Christmas movies. It is more urban and grounded than dramas like “A Christmas Story,” but has the fantasy element of films like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
This contrast creates obvious comedy — on more than one occasion, Buddy mistakes a fake Santa for the real thing — but also moments that are legitimately moving, like Buddy’s expression of quiet wonder when he visits the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
Favreau went on to see enormous success as the director behind the first two “Iron Man” films, several of Disney’s live-action remakes and the Star Wars series “The Mandalorian.” The skills he would use to build those worlds, which all blend their fantasy with a sense of realism, began with “Elf.”
The cultural impact of “Elf,” both on the Syracuse area and the country at large, is still felt today. In two decades, it has become a household name in the holiday genre — a 2022 YouGov survey found that more than two-thirds of Americans had seen “Elf” before.
To celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, it was rereleased in select theaters worldwide in November. Recently, at the Landmark Theatre, Symphoria performed “Elf in Concert,” a one-night event that featured a theatrical screening of “Elf” accompanied by a live orchestral score.
More than anything else, though, “Elf” matters because it’s really, really funny. It has one of the most efficient scripts of any Ferrell comedy, with lots of unexpectedly rich personal relationships and very few clunky jokes. The relationship between Buddy and Zooey Deschanel’s character Jovie, who he meets at a department store Christmas sale, gives crucial texture to Buddy’s character.
Without her, and without his evolving relationship with his father, stepmother and half-brother, the movie would just be a joke factory held together by snappy costumes, like many of Ferrell’s later comedies. But Buddy’s high-energy shtick is always counterpunched by open, unapologetic sentimentality. This element makes the jokes that might otherwise get an eye roll, like Buddy stuffing his breakfast with chocolates and candy, suddenly endearing.
“Elf” is one of the best and most charming Christmas movies of all time, and its appeal has not diminished since it was released 20 years ago. Its unique plot, fantastic Ferrell performance and quotable lines from “I am a cotton-headed ninny muggins!” to “Not now, Arctic Puffin!” make it a must-see.
