Review of Kicking & Screaming (2005) by Evan M — 02 Aug 2014

I can usually take or leave Will Ferrel's outlandish style of humor. This is defiantly without a doubt a leave. With this take of the common underdog story, Will Ferrel, who's character has a lifetime of disappointing his father finally finds a way to gain his respect by coaching his son's ragtag soccer team.

Knowing nothing about soccer and is generally just terrible at sports, one would expect this movie to follow the underdog formula and see the character slowly ascend to greatness along the way. Instead Will Ferrel gains no experience nor do his kids.

Instead of getting better in anyway, they rely on two Italian phenoms to bring the team all the way to the championship game delivering little to no character development. At the same time, Will Ferrel, with the wins going to his head, quickly descends into madness making us hate him and his dad, giving the audience nobody to root for until the last 5 minutes.

This was a deeply unfunny and unsatisfying film with a bland lesson of family values.