Will Ferrell has had a pretty decent film career after leaving Saturday Night Live much better than some of his contemporaries. His first effort, "Old School," was hilarious and was followed up by "Elf," which was even funnier. Later, he made "Anchorman" and most recently had the best role in Woody Allen's uneven "Melinda & Melinda." Now it's back to family comedy with the tale of a frustrated, milktoast father, Phil Weston (Ferrell), the owner of a vitamin store, who decides to coach a soccer team so his son can get in some playing time. Ironically, his son, Sam, was dumped from his grandfather Buck's (Robert Duval) squad, the champion Gladiators. Utilizing his father's worst enemy (and neighbor), former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka as his assistant, as well as two extremely talented Italian players (Francesco Liotti and Alessandro Ruggiero), Phil's Tigers go on a "Bad News Bears"-type winning streak. Of course, this is a family film, so when the gentle Phil goes crazy with the intense competition (and his new found addiction to coffee), he has to humble himself before his team and his son and finally do the right thing when the Tigers meet the Gladiator's for the title. Ferrell excels playing the goofy, sensitive man-child, who finds himself becoming like his father, a sporting goods mogul. Sure, there are the typical over-the-top SNL-like pratfalls (he gets stomped by Buck in a violent tether ball game, beaten up by a group of kids, spills scalding hot coffee on himself, etc.), but the message is sweet, the children cute and the 90 minutes, for the most part, very entertaining.
Review of Kicking & Screaming
