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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.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Childrens
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
Robert Duvall is superb (his love of football is well-documented) and seems to really enjoy playing a comic variation of his sports-obsessed father in the classic The Great Santini.
Ferrell's a funny guy, that much is true, and his frequent adlibbing is always preferable to the scripted humour he delivers, but he's just not right to lead a film like this.
... a rather schizophrenic movie; groaningly familiar around the edges but with a pair of frighteningly unpredictable monsters at the centre.
There's nothing remotely original in this goofy kids' sports movie, but at least the script adds a refreshingly funny zing.
Is this all there is to Ferrell’s career? Mediocre comedies, and wasted talent?
Director Jesse Dylan, desperate to avoid yawns, flails madly with staging, editing, slow motion -- any trick he can think of, whether it fits or works or not.
If this footy film was in a league it would be languishing at the bottom of the Vauxhall Conference.
Will Ferrell has become the most unlikely embodiment of wholesome family fun since Fred MacMurray gave up film noir for My Three Sons.
The picture is a little about soccer, a little about parenting, and a lot about laughing. Mike Ditka shows up and delivers a kick-butt performance.
Kicking & Screaming succeeds because it understands its target audience, refraining from playing it too cute or crude. Though predictable, it's well executed.
Will Ferrell cria um personagem carismático a partir de um roteiro burocrático e, no processo, consegue divertir e levar o espectador a se envolver com a história.
Kicking and Screaming feels as if it were callously vomited out by a machine, along with a couple of spare parts and some putrid grease.
Gets the job done for its core audience of tots%u2014and for no one else.
This isn't the worst setup for a kiddie comedy, but it proves that Ferrell alone can't carry a film.
There are a few broad laughs and Ferrell is everything you would expect him to be – irritating, occasionally amusing and sometimes inspired
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