Un entrenador genial

I saw the previews and thought this looked like a good movie. I've been a Will Ferrell fan since his SNL days and thought 'Anchorman' was awesome. Then I saw the clip on Conan and decided I was going to see it.

"Kicking and Screaming" is a movie about Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) whose son plays on his father's (Robert Duvall) soccer team, the Gladiators. Phil's father trades Phil's son to the Tigers, a losing team. Phil then takes up coaching the Tigers.

This was a good movie and provided more laughs than I thought there would be. I recommend it with 8 out of 10.

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.

Has Hollywood finally come to realize that families need films they can go to again? I hope so, and with luck films like Kicking and Screaming will help open that door. This is a movie for kids, but also for adults. Will Ferrell is one of the few SNL members who have beaten the curse of the show. His career is actually doing pretty good. From Elf to Anchorman, his roles have been strong and easy to watch. Much like Elf, this family film can be enjoyed by adults as well as children. As Phil, the son of Buck Weston, who sees all competition as nothing more then another conquest and will do just about anything to win all the time. When he coaches a kid's soccer team, Buck actually trades his grandson Sam to another team because he thinks the kid is a lousy player. Phil becomes the other teams coach, but upon realizing he is in way over his head he recruits his dads neighbor and enemy Mike Ditka to help him coach the team. With the help of two Italian ringers, the team starts the crawl up from the lowest rank to the finals and then to the championships. During this climb, Phil comes to realize that in many ways he is just life his dad and sees what he is turning himself and his son into. Folks, it is a family film. There is no nudity, and the worst of the language is "Hell". The closest it comes to sex is a few hits in the groin by various objects. It is the sort of film that tries to tell a lesson in how we look at others and ourselves. Yes, the film is filled with humor, such as when Phil discovers coffee and develops an addiction to caffeine. Watching him as he is banned from the coffee shop is laugh out loud funny. And seeing him as he tries to win a tetherball game against his father will crack a smile now and then as well. No, this is not "Gone with the Wind" nor is it supposed to be. It is just what it is, a funny film about a man who is trying to be a good father and finally understands what that can mean. Mike Ditka is the best thing about the film to be honest. He steals the show with his own personality coming out in the movie. He tends to misspeak or mispronounce names is funny, even when it is expected. "Bing Bong" is a winner, no matter what you do. The film is just fun, and that is all it is supposed to be. It is not supposed to be something you go to expecting a change in your life, but if you are lucky you might learn something.

Kicking and Screaming was decent. Will Ferrel plays the son of a dad who WILL NOT lose to ANYONE (Robert Duvall). He takes over coaching his son's Little League soccer team and goes nuts trying to win at all costs.

Kicking & Screaming seemed like it wanted to be the Anchorman of kid's movies, but it just lost me. There were some really funny parts, one involving the team needing to help out at the Italian kids family butcher shop, but overall, it just tried to hard to be a quirky movie that adults and kids would enjoy.

All in all, not Will Ferrel's best movie, but definitely not horrible. A good saterday night rental.

If you're a parent with kids in AYSO soccer, or a kid that plays(ed) the game, then you'll love this mindless, uplifting comedy about a coach going to the extreme to help his Tigers soccer team win. If you expect nothing more than that, then you'll enjoy yourself and have fun with this movie. The kids' soccer play has some real tricks, many of which our own kids tried during the next Saturday game! Kudos especially to Robert Duvall and Mike Ditka who really played their parts well and added a lot of variety to the movie so that it is not completely saturated with Will Ferrell (who also balanced his father/son roles well). A great family flick enjoyed by all, even the grandparents :)