NOTE: This post will be "promoted to the top" until May 12th. Originally posted on 5/11. Please scroll down for new posts.
Plot Summary
Family man Phil Weston, a lifelong victim of his father's competitive nature, takes on the coaching duties of a kids' soccer team, and soon finds that he's also taking on his father's dysfunctional way of relating...- IMDB
Doug's Dialogue
This is a classic tale of the underdog mixed with a tale of redemption of the father's sins. Buck Weston (Robert Duvall) is a soccer coach who's only goal is winning. When he trades his grandson Sam (Dylan McLaughlin) to the perennial losing Tigers, it is up to Buck's son Phil (Will Ferrell) to make things right. When the coach of the Tigers doesn't show for the game, Phil volunteers to step in and help out. After a couple of games, Phil realizes that he is in way over his head and enlists the help of his father's sworn enemy and next door neighbor, Mike Ditka (Mike Ditka). With the aid of Mike Ditka, Phil takes the Tigers on a journey to the championships and has to face his dad as coach of the Gladiators. During the final game, Phil realizes that he has taken things too far in his quest to beat his dad and has actually become like his dad. His only hope for the team to have a shot at winning the championship is to change his ways and let the team have fun.
Will Ferrell does his usual bit as the sensitive and funny man-child that he has perfected in other roles. He exhibits this best through the film after Mike Ditka introduces Will's character to coffee. Will's character becomes obsessed with the stuff to the point of have a cappuccino maker on the sidelines. The sight gags are classic Will Ferrell from his Saturday Night Live days.
Robert Duvall is excellent in his role as Will's father. When I think back on the films that I have seen Robert Duvall in, I come to one conclusion. He is your everyday blue collar actor. I don't mean any disrespect in that statement. He is a very talented actor. He just plays the parts of everyday Joe's so well. Never overly flashy, but just right to be perfectly right for the part.
The film itself was pretty good. This is not somehing that I would normally spend money to see, but parents and kids are going to find it enjoyable. Humorous enough to keep the kids laughing, but serious enough to keep the parents interested. And besides, who doesn't like to root for the underdog? This film checks in at around an hour and a half. While it is not an overly great movie, it is not bad either. This film gets three mushroom clouds out of five.
Matt's Chat
There was plenty of Will Ferrell "cowbell" in this one! A serious message about fathers and sons delivered with a ton of laughs.The casting of Farrell for this role was genius. I could see a young Jim Carrey in this performance. Duvall turned in yet another fine job. The surprise in this film has got to be Ditka...but he really is playing himself, so we shouldn't be surprised. The ladies of the flick were quite lovely and contributed their parts to the success of the movie.
I wasn't all that impressed with the music. Certainly not memorable by any stretch of the imagination.
Sports movies have to look real. And Kicking and Screaming delivers believable soccer. The soccer sequences required physical prowess on the part of the child actors as well as smart camera moves and angles, both were executed very well.
Like Doug said above, this isn't a flick I would ordinarily plunk down bucks to see, but I found it to be a rather enjoyable family movie that everyone will find something in it they like. I award Kicking and Screaming three out of five mushroom clouds.
Obligatory Star Trek References
There are plenty...Musetta Vander, who plays Janice Weston, was on the VOYAGER episode "The Disease" playing Dervan Tahl.
Rachel Harris, who plays Ann Hogan, was also on VOYAGER playing Martis in the episode "Before and After."
David Bowe, who plays Forest Avery, appeared in the DEEP SPACE NINE episode "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night" playing Basso
Tom Virtue, who plays the track and field coach, had two roles on VOYAGER. The first was as the supervisor in the two parter titled "Workforce" and the second was as Lt. Webster Baxter in both "Twisted","The 37s" and "Eye of the Needle".
And from the greatest STAR TREK film of all time...GALAXY QUEST...
Matt Winston, who plays Tom Hanna, was Technician #1...he also played Temporal Agent Daniels on ENTERPRISE.
AND
David Newman, who is one of the composers for this film, also wrote some music for GALAXY QUEST.
