Elf

… is a wonderful idea: a man raised by elves at the North Pole, until he grows too large and sets out to discover his real father (James Caan). Bob Newhart and Ed Asner as Santa do a good job, but the movies lives or dies with Will Farrell, who is delightfully wide-eyed, apologizing when he’s hit by a car while jaywalking, or falling afoul of the world’s nastiest kids’ book author in the person of Peter Dinklage, the dwarf from The Station Agent. However … it loses its way toward the end, getting so sweet that a diabetic, like me, begins to think of taking a double dose of glucophage or maybe mainlining a bit of insulin. But no need.