Movie Review: Kicking and Screaming

Kicking and Screaming

I'm not normally much of a fan for silly comedies, but Will Ferrell was such a hoot in Elf that it made perfect sense to me to take a look at him in Kicking and Screaming. Let me tell you this much about Kicking and Screaming: It ain't no Elf!

Buck Weston (Robert Duvall) owns a chain of sporting goods stores, and is a sports fanatic. It only goes to follow, then, that he'd have high expectations for his son, Phil (Will Ferrell). Unfortunately, though he's tried all of his life, Phil just isn't much of an athlete. When Phil meets and marries Barbara (Kate Walsh), his father once again outdoes him by almost simultaneously marrying the much younger Janice (Musetta Vander). And when Barbara gives birth to Phil's son, Sam (Dylan McLaughlin), Janice gives Buck a son they name Bucky (Josh Hutcherson). Bucky turns out to be everything that Phil — and Sam — are not. He's rough, tough, and athletic and the pride of Buck's soccer team. Poor Sam is merely a bench warmer on the same team, and matters only get worse when his own grandfather trades him to the worst team in the league.

Phil is righteously indignant on behalf of his son, and his anger and pride combine with circumstances to make him the coach of the losing Tigers. Phil at least has the sense to know when he's in too deep, and so he seeks some assistance. Fortunately for him, his father's longtime neighbor — and enemy — has a little coaching experience himself. Mostly because he's looking to annoy Buck, Mike Ditka (who plays himself in the film) agrees to be Phil's assistant coach. But even the great Ditka can't make the Tigers into much more than they already are. Then Phil discovers a secret weapon that could prove to make the Tigers a contender, and he begins to concentrate on winning the next match — and then the next — to the exclusion of everything else, even his own son.

Will Ferrell is a terrific comedic actor, but he's quite literally given nothing to work with in this film. The story is unbelievably trite and predictable; and the script isn't even remotely funny. This is a movie billed as a comedy, and yet I didn't laugh. In fact, I didn't even smile. Not once. The direction is ham-handed, almost as if trying too hard will make something that's not even remotely amusing somehow funny. It doesn't. And poor Robert Duvall is woefully miscast here. Though he does his formidable best, he's also got nothing to work with and so his bluster falls flat. The only person who comes off remotely ahead here is Mike Ditka. Certainly many non-actors have played themselves in bit movie parts in the past. But this role is not a bit part, and Ditka is surprisingly no non-actor. He's actually pretty good! The rest of the movie, however, is not.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Kicking and Screaming is rated PG for "thematic elements, language, and some crude humor." There's not really anything unsuitable for kids in the film that I could see, but there are some more mature undercurrents (the rivalry between father and son, for example, and Phil's constant futile efforts to make his father proud of him) that require a more mature viewer to grasp. The real problem with Kicking and Screaming is that it's a comedy that isn't at all funny. And without laughs, it has neither a plot nor anything else that make it worth watching. I don't recommend Kicking and Screaming for anyone of any age.