Kicking & Screaming is a worthwhile family film in a season full of Sin. But this one scores on an error.
Kicking and Screaming (2005)
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Reviews Counted:135
Fresh:56
Rotten:79
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: The script is mediocre and fails to give Ferrell a proper comedic showcase.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, language and some crude humor.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Childrens
Theatrical Release:May 13, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $52,580,895
Synopsis: Funny man Will Farrell's humorous man-child antics meet actual kids on this soccer comedy. As vitamin salesman Phil Weston, Farrell's a sensitive man easily capable of both crying and sewing.... Funny man Will Farrell's humorous man-child antics meet actual kids on this soccer comedy. As vitamin salesman Phil Weston, Farrell's a sensitive man easily capable of both crying and sewing. Unfortunately for Phil, these qualities have never quite endeared him to his tough-as-nails father, Buck (Robert Duvall), who will stop at nothing to one-up Phil. He goes so far as benching Phil's 10-year-old son--his own grandson--on the youth soccer team he coaches. When Phil begs for more playing time for the boy, Buck trades his grandson to the last-place team, the Tigers. Not just any normal cellar-dwelling outfit, the Tigers feature a cast of lovable losers who prefer eating worms and telling jokes to playing soccer. When the Tigers' coach leaves, putting the season on the line, an inexperienced Phil steps in to helm his son's new team. With help from Buck's neighbor and rival, real-life football coach Mike Ditka--hilariously playing himself--the Tigers turn their season around. Fueled by a raging caffeine habit, Phil starts to be overly obsessed with beating Buck, losing sight of why he took the job in the first place--to be a better dad to his own son. Director Jesse Dylan (AMERICAN WEDDING) is a natural for the storyline, being famed musician Bob Dylan's son. Farrell, for once, is content to play straight man to the crazy tykes in the first half of the film, before he unleashes his trademark zaniness. Those attributes alone, along with fun-loving family themes, make KICKING & SCREAMING a treat for fans both young and old. [More]
Starring: Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Mike Ditka, Kate Walsh
Starring: Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Mike Ditka, Kate Walsh, Musetta Vander, Josh Hutcherson, Dylan McLaughlin
Director: Jesse Dylan
Director: Jesse Dylan
Screenwriter: Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for Kicking and Screaming
Ferrell is one of the film's few bright lights. It's a shame to hide that subversive beacon under a bushel of dully inspirational sports movie cliches.
Trapped inside the seemingly harmless veneer of a PG-rated kid's movie lies a mischievous little devil of a film...
Even by the low standards of formulaic sports comedies, this one comes up short.
It just plods along, harmless but lifeless, going exactly where you think it's going.
Sit in a room by yourself, look at a blank screen for 90 minutes, and you'll have more of a chance of laughing at your own thoughts than you will at this movie.
Dylan ... favors loud sound, loud images, loud everything -- only the laughs are muted.
The problem is that in turning Phil into a win-at-all-costs coach, they rob the movie of much of its humor.
Ferrell polishes his screen image as an oversized, oversensitive man-boy out of place in the adult world, and Duvall does a low-comedy, geriatric variation of his Great Santini character.
Silly, mindless and derivative, but Duvall brings some bite to the proceedings and Ferrell is dependably amusing.
Both Duvall and Mike Ditka, who plays himself and helps coach Phil's team, spend too much of the movie on the bench, and while they're there, the jokes run thin.
Even a soccer-savvy audience has better things to do -- like instilling unsportsmanlike behavior in their kids or sabotaging rival teams.
Presents an almost human side of Will Ferrell. And you know what? He's funnier than ever playing a regular guy. Or, at least, trying to.
It's not pleasant watching Ferrell try so hard for the kind of laughs that have come so easily to him in the past.
Latest News for Kicking and Screaming
March 29, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: Will Ferrell Goes for the Gold
Two promising new comedies target different age groups and look to close off a red hot March box office with strong opening weekend sales. More...
August 07, 2006:
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May 25, 2006:
Box Office Preview: X-Men 3 Ready to Rock Memorial Day Weekend
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February 13, 2006:
Trailer Bulletin: Talladega Nights
For those of us who loved "Anchorman" and semi-suffered through "Kicking & Screaming," "Bewitched," and "The Producers" while waiting... More...
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