I always thought of Will Ferrell as a supporting player. Much like Phil Hartman unfortunately was never able to achieve, I never thought this former SNL cast member would ever achieve great success in a starring role. (Note: A Night At The Roxbury, although mildly funny, I would not count as a success.) Ferrell’s supporting roles performances in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”, “Old School”, “Zoolander” and “The Ladies Man” were hilarious. It was my thought that he would be forever relegated to remarkably funny supporting roles, never to find his niche in the starring role. Thankfully he’s proved me wrong with his fantastic performance in “Elf.”

Well first of all it’s a Christmas movie, which I’m sure you could have instantly ascertained by the title. It’s filled with your typical Christmas cliché movie formulas. I don’t believe, no Christmas spirit here and Santa who? Who’s going to save the day? Why Buddy of course, a 6ft tall human being raised by elves from the North Pole who comes to New York City to find his long lost father played by James Caan. Caan plays the typical Christmas curmudgeon, who has bigger problems to worry about than his long lost son dressed in yellow leotards and a funny hat. You already know how this is going to end, I mean c’mon it’s a Christmas movie for crying out loud. If you’re expecting Ferrell to be laying in a pool of his own blood with a knife stuck in his back you will be sorely disappointed. But the series of events that lead up to the tear jerker of an ending are absolutely hilarious. I repeat hilarious. From start to finish I was literally busting a gut. You might think that Ferrell’s naïve deer caught in the head lights shtick would start to get tiresome near the end, but it does not. You want more, lots more. It never gets tired.