Susan Granger’s review of “Kicking & Screaming” (Universal Pictures)
While it appears to be about the kids, the title of this family-friendly soccer movie actually describes the bad behavior of the fathers. Mild-mannered Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) is so furious that his outrageously competitive father Buck (Robert Duvall) not only dismisses his grandson as a perennial “bench-warmer” but trades him to a bottom-of-the-league team that he agrees to coach the underdog Tigers. All too aware of his shortcomings, Phil convinces Buck’s cantankerous neighbor, Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka (as himself), to whip the Tiger tykes into shape to beat Buck’s Gladiators. Sizing up the hopelessness of the situation, Ditka recruits two ringers, the young soccer-savvy sons of the local Italian butcher. “The Italians” quickly become winning heroes – but at what cost? Obviously inspired by “The Bad News Bears” and “Dodgeball,” writers Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick (“The Santa Clause”) blend formulaic father-son rivalry with social commentary about American cultural competitiveness. But the satire’s just too soft to be effective and director Jesse Dylan (Bob’s son and director of “American Wedding”) fails to elicit enough laughter from many potentially comedic situations. Instead, he indulges too many puns on the word ‘balls’ and hit-in-the-crotch visual gags; one unhappy example is an intense father-son tetherball game. Will Ferrell and Mike Ditka clown around, while Robert Duvall riffs on his tyrannical “Great Santini” taskmaster. Unfortunately, the kids aren’t differentiated except for ethnicity – like a tiny Asian kid and the Italian stallions. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Kicking & Screaming” is jock-ular 5 – blaming caffeine for turning a meek father into a monster.
