Elf

Elf

“I like to smile! It’s my favorite!”
-Buddy (Will Ferrell), “Elf”

You’ve got to hand it to Will Ferrell – he’s absolutely 100 percent dedicated to the joke. Whether he’s busting out of a flag-draped thong on Saturday Night Live, or chowing down on syrup-laced spaghetti while wearing yellow tights in “Elf,” he’ll do anything to sell the funny. And he does it with such a psychotic positivity, it’s endearing where most SNL stars-turned-movie-shills are grating.

Ferrell’s the reason that “Elf” pretty much succeeds. Zooey Deschanel, as Ferrell’s puppy-love interest, and Bob Newhart as his adoptive elf father, give fine supporting performances. Plus, there are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos by Amy Sedaris and Andy Richter. But Ferrell is this movie’s fuzzy, hug-crazy center, and without him, it would probably collapse under its own wobbly weight.

With him, the movie ends up being sweet and fun. (And any movie that has Ferrell’s adopted elf saying to a department store Santa, “You sit on a throne of lies!” has my vote.) It even had me, a notorious Christmas commercialization curmudgeon, singing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” at the end with the rest of the cast. And that’s saying something, believe me.

Recommended.