Brew Views: Elf

You don't smell like Santa.

ELF
By AARON MESH

Will Ferrell's charm (always a precarious thing) depends wholly on his innocence. If you ever get the feeling he knows better, Ferrell's pushiness becomes insufferable, since every vehicle he's in is about him wresting away the steering mechanism and veering everyone into some fantasyland. In Elf, he's driving a sleigh, and the movie ranks among his most enduringly blithe workouts. Jon Favreau perpetually directs movies about grown men who want to play with toys forever, and here he found the perfect alibi, and a leading boy happy to stare blankly while singing at the top of his lungs. Showing at: Laurelhurst.

  1. Best paired with: Full Sail Wassail.
  2. Also showing: Hook (Academy).

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.