Kicking & Screaming won’t take any space on the ‘great sports films’ rack, but it should provide families with some easy laughs and some rainy day diversions. And if nothing else, it’ll provide moviegoers with the all important tetherball fix we’ve so desperately been lacking.
Kicking & Sreaming
2 & 1/2 Stars
Will Ferrell doesn’t exactly break cinematic ground with Kicking & Screaming, but as yet another entry in the ‘kid sports’ genre, it’s certainly a little unique. Not nearly as blue-collar and sarcastic as The Bad News Bears (which gets its own update this summer from Richard Linklater and Billy Bob Thorton), K&S provides a lot of unexpected laughs.
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| Scream, Dracula, scream! |
Ferrell plays a meek and embittered vitamin supplement store owner who just can’t measure up to his hyper-competitive dad (Robert Duvall), who just happens to coach the little league soccer team his son plays on. After Duvall trades Ferrell’s son to another team, Phil decides to coach the perennial losers in an effort to one-up his old man. Phil brings in the help of Mike Ditka, who has been warring with his dad for years, to get his coaching skills up to par. By definition and federal mandate, hilarity then ensues.
Put rather simply, Kicking & Screaming is The Mighty Ducks Play Soccer; same idea, same ‘coach becomes win-obsessed jerk’, and same hokey finale. Except that in this version, the kids are really nothing more than afterthoughts to the comedic force of Will Ferrell, who almost assuredly ad-libbed a good portion of his performance. You’ll walk out of this movie remembering only Will Ferrell and Mike Ditka (who just steals every scene he’s in).
There are some inspired moments with Ditka and Duvall, who bring a gleeful malice to their interactions as bickering neighbors, especially to their confrontation over who’s the better coach, but in the end this is Will’s show. No one does over-the-top reactions like Ferrell, and his moments of lunacy are enough to make you forget just how flimsy the rest of the film is. It’ll be interesting to see how this effects his steamroller momentum in Hollywood, but I can’t imagine it’ll put too much of a dent in it. Judging from the audience of soccer kids at the screening, it’ll be a hit with the younger crowd. After all, there’s nothing kids like more than seeing adults make fools of themselves, and Ferrell is blissfully unafraid to be a complete buffoon.
Kicking & Screaming won’t take any space on the ‘great sports films’ rack, but it should provide families with some easy laughs and some rainy day diversions. And if nothing else, it’ll provide moviegoers with the all important tetherball fix we’ve so desperately been lacking.