Kicking & Screaming (2005)

One of my all time favorites.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm pretty sure they just pointed the camera on Will Ferrell and said 'go'. Although someone wrote a script, but you wouldn't know, because Ferrell's character changes from scene to scene, lurching from one thing to another. There's a bit about coffee, which doesn't make any sense. Mike Ditka at all doesn't make sense. This whole movie seems to have been all shot in single takes, so lopsided and random it is. The pacing is way off: either a skit is too long, or too short. I think there's a father-son lesson, but daddy and his team are barely on screen, so that didn't work, which is typical.Was it funny? Like watching an episode of SNL, you watch jokes happen, and maybe laugh once every fifteen minutes or so. You recognise that what is happening is in fact, a succession of jokes and, out of desperation, you laugh at one or two of them.Jokes frequently fall flat, because even they don't make sense. (e.g. Ferrell attempts to taunt one of the opposition players. Why? To get him sent off? To put him off? The pay off is that the kid attacks Ferrell, to which Ferrell seems surprised, which was surely why he did it in the first place).

Kicking and Screaming is a good movie. It is not Will Ferrell's best, but it's good enough. The story is about a last-place Tigers team. Their coach decided to abandon them. Then, Phil Weston(Ferrell) decides to take over the reins. Along with assistant coach Mike Ditka(Ditka) and two Italian boys, the team must make it to the championship to face Weston's father- Buck(Duvall). Will Ferrell is funny in this film especially when coffee comes into the picture. I really was surprised and happy to see Mike Ditka. He was great in this movie. I also liked Duvall. The only thing that bothered me is that this movie has the same plot as the Bad News Bears but in soccer. A new coach, misfit kids, last place, big rivalry-these things mentioned happens in both movies. Other than that, I enjoyed this movie. This is a great movie for soccer fans and everyone else who likes a plain movie. I rate this movie 8/10.

Kicking & Screaming tells the story of a loving father and,Phil Weston, (Will Ferrell) and the local children's soccer league. His son, Sam, (Dylan McLaughlin) played on the team coached by Phil's father, Buck, (Robert Duvall) until he was suddenly traded to the Tigers. Put simply, Ferrell is awesome. At First Phil Weston is an insecure everyman who has grown up in the shadow of his father, a and vicious coach of the Gladiators Little League Soccer team.The directing was decent, but also the acting was respectable. Will Ferrell (Old School), is hilarious. He is seemingly comfortable with films for all audiences such as Elf and the soon-to-come Bewitched. Robert Duvall (Secondhand Lions) plays an excellent role as an overbearing and competitive father. Also, the appearance from Mike Ditka, tight end in the NFL from 1961 to 1972 and coach of the Chicago Bears from 1982 to 1992, is a great accentuating ingredient to this film.Rated PG and has thematic elements, language and some crude humor. The humor can be understood by younger pre-teens, but there is a lot of wittiness that pertains specifically towards adolescents and older.

It's strange how people look at Will Farrell movies & think Will is the funny guy. Will is sometimes a weird guy (in fact in this soccer movie, he is a weird coach). But in most movies, Wills best moments are making others seem funny when they play off of him.In this movie where the Bad News Bears do soccer in a way, Will Ferrell makes Mike Ditka look good. He makes Robert Duvall look good. He even makes the kids look good. Will is just pretty much himself, weird and a little out of touch with reality. Make that a whole lot out of touch with reality.Still, the support he gets in this movie is priceless. The concept of the team arriving late at a soccer game in a Butcher truck all wearing bloody aprons is inspired. Some of the other things are creative & cute too. The films end is predictable, but a little different. Overall, it is entertaining for a young audience.Mike Ditka should find some more movie work. He is pretty good in this, & is missed when he leaves the film for a while.