The Twelve Reviews of Christmas...Day Eleven: "Elf"

You sit on a throne of lies!

The Story:

Buddy (Will Ferrell) crawled into Santa's (Edward Asner) bag during a visit to an orphanage.  Raised in the North Pole by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart), Buddy has never realized that he's not an Elf...he's human!  In fact, he's the son of Walter (James Caan), who works at a publishing company in New York, and unfortunately has landed on Santa's naughty list.  Buddy sets off to New York to meet his dad, and along the way finds a girl, Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) and becomes smitten.  Then, on Christmas Eve... all of these storylines come to a head as Christmas is about  to be cancelled forever due to the lack of Christmas Spirit.  Can one lone Elf save the day?

Count on it!

It's been 10 years since Elf arrived in theaters.

In that decade, the movie has become a classic.

Or if not a classic, a staple of the holiday season.

There is "The Holy Trinity" of funny Christmas movies.  Scrooged. Christmas Vacation. Elf.

We can discuss and debate which is the best of those movies all season long.

At this house, the holidays don't officially begin until at least one of those movies has played.

Normally, that happens sometime between the first of November and Thanksgiving.

: )

This movie wears its heart on its sleeve, happily.  You cannot watch this movie and not smile.

Yes, even those out there that hate Will Ferrell, watch this movie and not be impressed with the childlike wonder he brings to the role of Buddy.

Surrounded by a great cast, this is Ferrell's best performance, hands down.

Directed by Jon Favreau, he proves equally adept at comedy as he does with action (Iron Man).

It doesn't get much sweeter, or funnier, than this.

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Infinitely.  Love this film.

The Twelve Reviews of Christmas...Day Seven: "The Christmas Card"

I seriously want to live in this town...

The Story:

Sgt. Cody Cullen (John Newton) is serving a tour in Afghanistan.  For the holidays, he receives a random Christmas Card written by Faith Spelman (Alice Evans) who gives him some words of encouragement and invites him to come visit the family if he ever happens to be in Nevada City, California.  When one of Sgt. Cullen's men is killed in a mortar attack, he takes leave to go console the girlfriend, and then winds up in Nevada City.  He meets Faith, and in a nice twist of luck, saves her father (Edward Asner) from getting hit by a car.  Cody is invited to stick around for a bit, exchanging some work at the mill for a place to stay.  He agrees, and all is going swimmingly until Paul (Ben Weber), Faith's fiancé shows up...

Let's hear it for Hallmark!

Not to be outdone in the holiday department, Hallmark made this film in 2006.

Sadly, AT&T does not carry the Hallmark channel so I can't tell you if this film is playing this holiday season or not.

It should be, and if it is, I recommend a viewing.

It's sweet and charming.  A bit of drama with a helping of humor.

Yes, a lot like real life.

Faith's parents are hilarious in their obvious affection for Cody over Paul.  But as all good parents, they mostly want their child to be happy, so they will bite their tongue.

Mostly.

:)
Aside from Asner and Peter Jason, a great character actor, most everyone in the cast was a relative unknown to me.

But if the story is good, and the acting passable, it's hard not to want to watch a good Christmas movie.

That's what we have here.

Count me as  a big fan.

Probably my favorite of these sentimental dramatic romantic films that take place around the holidays.



Final Grade: B+/A-...

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: At least once, every year.  I do own this one, and I'm glad to have it!