CNS Movie Review: Kicking & Screaming

Kicking & Screaming

By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Kicking & Screaming" (Universal) is a mostly fun, if formulaic, comedy in the tradition of "The Bad News Bears" and "The Mighty Ducks."

Screen clown Will Ferrell plays Phil Weston, a timid suburban soccer dad who is still dealing with unresolved issues stemming from his athletically challenged childhood.

Growing up, Phil constantly failed to meet the expectations of his winning-obsessed father, Buck (Robert Duvall), a sporting goods salesman for whom life is one big competition.

Now a dad himself, Phil agrees to coach son Sam's (Dylan McLaughlin) youth soccer team -- though he knows next-to-nothing about the sport -- after Buck, who coaches the league-leading Gladiators, "trades" his bench-warming grandson to the last-place Tigers.

Among the other parents, wouldn't you know a same-sex couple is shown to be the most involved with their child, an adopted Korean cutie, whose name becomes an ongoing punch line.

Desperate for help, the clueless Phil recruits Buck's next-door nemesis, famed football coach Mike Ditka (playing himself), as his assistant coach, and a pair of junior Peles (Francesco Liotti and Alessandro Ruggiero) from a local Italian meat market, as his secret on-field weapons.

As in other kiddie-sports stories, the Tigers somehow manage to make it to the championship game where they face off against Buck's boys. But along the way, Phil transforms into a crazed carbon copy of his father, benching Sam and exhorting his team to play dirty. (A silly subplot involving Phil's introduction to coffee suggests that winning, like caffeine, can become addictive.)

Directed by Jesse Dylan, the movie offers a humorous critique of our hypercompetitive culture. But beyond its breezy "winning isn't everything" moral, the film imparts a more serious message about parental approval and the long-term emotional damage that can result when such validation is withheld.

Viewers will get a kick out of the young cast, but it is the manic yet likable Ferrell who really scores. Duvall is in "Great Santini" mode, humiliating Phil in a game of tetherball that comically echoes the father-son basketball sequence in that film.

However, "Kicking & Screaming" deserves a penalty flag for its inclusion of a vulgar running gag involving Buck's double-entendre sales slogan that is hardly appropriate for a "kid-friendly" movie -- though most of the objectionable elements will, like a soccer ball, probably bounce over youngsters' heads.

The film contains some comic violence, a minor same-sex parent theme, as well as mildly crude language and humor, including some ethnically insensitive remarks. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested.

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DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

END

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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