Elf (2003)

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writer (WGA):

David Berenbaum (written by)

Release Date:

7 November 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

This holiday, discover your inner elf.

Plot:

After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.

Plot Keywords:

Elf | North Pole | Shower | Fight | Director Cameo

Awards:

2 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Will Ferrell	...	Buddy
James Caan	...	Walter
Bob Newhart	...	Papa Elf
Edward Asner	...	Santa
Mary Steenburgen	...	Emily
Zooey Deschanel	...	Jovie
Daniel Tay	...	Michael
Faizon Love	...	Gimbel's Manager
Peter Dinklage	...	Miles Finch
Amy Sedaris	...	Deb
Michael Lerner	...	Fulton
Andy Richter	...	Morris
Kyle Gass	...	Eugene
Artie Lange	...	Gimbel's Santa
Leon Redbone	...	Leon the Snowman (voice)

Also Known As:

Buddy - Der Weihnachtself (Germany)
Álfur (Iceland) [is]
Elf (Spain) [es]
Elf (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Elf, el duende (Argentina) [es]
Elfe (France) [fr]
Le lutin (Canada: French title) [fr]
Mi a manó (Hungary) [hu]
Päkapikk (Estonia) [et]
To xotiko ton Hristougennon (Greece) [el]
Um Duende em Nova York (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild rude humor and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Norway:7 | Finland:K-3 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | South Korea:All | New Zealand:G | Portugal:M/6 | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Brazil:Livre | Canada:G | Germany:6 | Philippines:G | Singapore:G | Spain:T | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #40170) | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The scene where the fake Santa is chasing Buddy had to be done in one take because it was too hard to rebuild everything.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene in Central Park when Santa is trying to fix his sleigh, the trap door is open but when Michael comes to help Santa, Santa asks Michael to open the trap door for him.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Papa Elf: Oh, hello. You're, uh, you're probably here about the story. Elves love to tell stories. I-I'll bet you didn't know that about elves. There's, uh, probably a lot of things you didn't know about elves. Another, another interesting, uh, elfism, uh, there are only three jobs available to an elf. The first is making shoes at night while, you know, while the old cobbler sleeps.
Disgruntled Cobbler Elf: Lazy bum! Couldn't even make a clog!
Papa Elf: You can bake cookies in a tree. As you can imagine, it's, uh, dangerous having an oven in an oak tree during the dry season. But the third job, some call it, uh, "the show" or "the big dance," it's the profession that every elf aspires to. And that is to build toys in Santa's workshop.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ti piace Hitchcock? (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Nothing from Nothing

Very Very Funny Movie!

The most helpful thing I can tell you about this movie is that if you've got even a smidgen of a youthful spirit about you, then this movie will make you laugh until you cry....over and over. There's one scene where Elf and a gruffy fellow warehouse worker(who was a total stranger just a few moments before) are sitting on a pallet after smoking some dope, and are laughing really hard about something really stupid, and the Elf leans over and begins tickling the guy under the arms and shouting "Tickle, Tickle!" as they both topple over in hysteric ecstasy....and I thought I was going to have a coronary, I laughed so long and hard (after running the DVD back to watch the same scene about 5 times over!!!!! This is absolutely my favorite all-time comedy! I'm very hard to please when it comes to comedies, seeing most of them as just stupid, but Elf is in a class by itself.