Mention the name James Caan and you’ve got my interest. From Santino Corleone to Paul Sheldon, he’s been in plenty of roles that force me to acknowledge that the man’s got chops and to spare. But when you put him in a movie with Frat Packer Will Ferrell…in tights…in a Christmas movie…you’ve got me downright sold. Which means that if you can only have one Christmas movie this holiday season…well…you probably want Nightmare Before Christmas. But the insane antics of Buddy the Elf are running a close second!

Will Ferrell Really Makes a Good Elf.

Despite the tall, lanky nature of stringbean Ferrell, he actually makes an unsettlingly good elf. Stowing away in Santa’s sack of goodies, an orphaned baby makes his way to the North Pole where a team of elves mistake the brand name of his diapers—Li’l Buddy—for his name. How very Back to the Future, huh? But anyway, Buddy grows up—man, does he grow—and becomes a somewhat bumbling part of the great elf toy industry fuelling Santa Claus’ global charity concern. “Elf” Buddy is thus charged with a “special” mission to get him out of the elves’ collective hair—to go find the man who orphaned him: his father. Who is also on the naughty list. And Buddy’s shriek of unalloyed horror at this is what made Will Ferrell a perfect fit for this part.

James Caan Makes a Fantastic Bad Guy

James Caan, meanwhile, is Buddy’s father, a children’s book publishing executive who clearly needs a dose of that Christmas spirit. Who better to provide it, of course, than that overenthusiastic, bumbling elf transplant—his long-lost son Buddy. Caan is clearly consternated through most of the movie, which makes him a perfect fit.

The Right Actors at the Right Time—That’s What Made Elf.

It’s the perfect time of year to settle in with your choice of movie, folks…and Elf should definitely be on the stack. But man does not live by movies alone, so swing on in and try our  array of Elf movie trivia!

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