There are a few broad laughs and Ferrell is everything you would expect him to be – irritating, occasionally amusing and sometimes inspired
Kicking and Screaming (2005)
Tomatometer
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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.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Childrens
US 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
Reviews for Kicking and Screaming
Kicking & Screaming seems to be exactly what you’d expect - a Bad News Bears with soccer moms.
As always, Will Ferrell earns laughs through his total commitment to the material.
What could have been a third-rate knockoff of The Bad News Bears instead emerges as just about its equal.
There's few revelations, but it's pleasantly handled and swiftly executed. Kids will love it, and there's enough laughs to sustain their parents.
Just watching Ferrell pull faces (for lack of a better term) is hilarious.
... as entertaining as watching your neighbor's kid's soccer game, not because you want to, but because you have to.
This isn't the worst setup for a kiddie comedy, but it proves that Ferrell alone can't carry a film.
Gets the job done for its core audience of tots%u2014and for no one else.
... a rather schizophrenic movie; groaningly familiar around the edges but with a pair of frighteningly unpredictable monsters at the centre.
Rather shakily directed by Jesse (son of Bob) Dylan, who possibly knows something about larger-than-life fathers.
It’s only the 20 priceless minutes near the end -- when Ferrell breaks out of the wimpy-dad routine and outruns director and writers to gloriously over-the-top heights -- that elevate this film from dreadful to mediocre.
If Farrell's caffeine-crazed commands to his team net a few laughs, the PG rating guarantees a sugar-coated ending at the whistle.
[Ferrell's] humor is cut off at the knees by sloppy editing, a tedious pace and an underwhelming payoff.
Ferrell's ideally suited to man-boy characters, and that's what Phil Weston is.
An entertaining family movie, and may serve a useful purpose if it inspires kids to overthrow their coaches and take over their own sports.
Ferrell sticks with it, kicking and screaming indeed, distracting us with his good-natured mugging until enough 'it's-not-about-winning' lessons to fill a sequel are pounded home.
Kicking & Screaming succeeds because it understands its target audience, refraining from playing it too cute or crude. Though predictable, it's well executed.
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