The Christmas season is one of the most exciting times of year, for a great many reasons it would be impossible to list in all completeness here. Between the showering of gifts and love respectively, there is the guilty pleasure that is watching Christmas films – the majority of which are, for want of a better word, dreck.
There are classics, to be sure, as well as films that are hotly contested for their festive relevance – here’s looking at you, Die Hard. However, amongst innumerable cheesy Christmas rom-coms and sleigh-bell-flecked B-movies stands a titan of comedy in its own right; a film that would be enjoyed year-round were it not for the seasonality of its setting. We are, of course, referring to the (literally) stone-cold classic that is the Will Ferrell vehicle, Elf.
Elf is an anomaly, a tour-de-force of comedy propelled by comedy chops and the uniquely severe style of Godfather icon James Caan. It is an endlessly quotable romp through Rankin-Bass inspired winter wonderlands and the dirty streets of New York City. Which, though, are its most iconic moments?
The Snowball Fight
No Christmas film is complete without a snowball fight – and snowball fights on film are all the more cathartic for us British viewers, on account of our distinct lack of white Christmases. Elf’s snowball fight scene, then, is quintessential, at least until it isn’t. Ferrell’s human ‘elf’ Buddy is a snowball whizz, crafting near-lethal snowballs at the speed of light to help half-brother Michael handily win against some mean-as-hell bullies.
“I’m In A Store And I’m Singing!”
After failing to convince his father of his legitimacy as a son-cum-elf, Buddy finds his way to the department store where he meets Zooey Deschanel’s disenfranchised clerk Jovie. This whole sequence is a magical scene of itself own, topped off by Buddy’s magical turnover of the department store into a true winter wonderland – and upstaged again by his discovery that the store’s Santa is not the real Santa: “You sit on a throne of lies!”
Of course, Buddy’s efforts are, in their way, inspiring. With your garden crying out for some light-up reindeer, it might not be too far-fetched of you to consider taking a leaf from this absurd character’s playbook.
World’s Best Cup Of Coffee
One of the most iconic scenes in Elf is the montage that describes Buddy’s first experiences in New York City. His naivety – and Ferrell’s comic instinct – is on full display here, typified most accurately by his discovery of the ‘World’s Best Cup of Coffee’. The sign, designed as a mere marketing tool, inspires Buddy to congratulate the coffee shop himself: “You did it! Congratulations!” The scene also sees him inconsolably laughing while getting his shoes shined, and waving at a man attempting to hail a taxi.
Bathroom Duet
It would be hard to talk about Elf’s iconic scenes without giving an honorable mention to Buddy and Jovie’s bathroom duet of ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’, an unfairly-maligned Christmas banger that carries with it a melancholy feel befitting of these seemingly star-crossed lovers. Zooey recently spilled the beans on how that scene came to be, revealing that it was created to suit her singing talents!