I (Finally) Saw Elf

Elf came out in 2003. I didn't see it when it was originally released. And in thirteen years, when the film became a quotable classic, I never got around to seeing it. Until last night. It was playing in the metroplex, and what better way to see a film for the first time than on the big screen with friends.

It's really hard to go into a movie with no expectations when everyone has already told you how unbelievably funny it is. I mean for real, many people really love this film. I didn't want to let them down.

The movie starts out really funny. I love the whole set design with the forced perspective and callback to clay-mation. Will Ferrell commits completely to the role of Buddy the Elf, a human raised by elves in the North Pole. He knows Santa. He loves sugar. He is sweet and innocent. He wants to meet his real dad.

That real dad lives in NYC, and the sequence of Buddy arriving in NYC is pretty funny. However, the film can't ride on that for as long as it does. The second half of the film is bad - bad effects, bad Christmas message, bad character changes.

David S. Pumpkins is funny in a five-minute skit, but a feature-length film of him would be overkill. Buddy the Elf would have been a great five-minute sketch.

(This line about asparagus and pee made me literally laugh out loud at the theater.)