Kicking & Screaming

Scott Hardie: “It sucked.”

I believe the term for movies like this should be "hypothetical comedy." The director tells Will Ferrell to deliver all of his lines really hyped up, mixes in some shots of Mike Ditka staring at him and puts some peppy ska tunes on the soundtrack, and voila, it's supposed to be funny. (You think I'm making this up. One of the DVD extras shows the producer explaining the film: "Well, it's about Will Ferrell as this soccer coach, and Mike Ditka's in it... See, already you're laughing.") There's just scene after scene that make no sense, like Ferrell handing out pet finches to his baffled players. Ferrell can be funny when he has a meaty character to play, but mostly this movie has him stuck playing the same emasculated, imaginationless everydad that make TV sitcoms such a bore. His only funny scene comes when the man gets hepped up on caffeine and turns into a raging jerk, which means Ferrell finally gets to play a meaty character. This summer's "Bad News Bears" remake wasn't very good either, but at least it had real jokes in it, not high energy and the premise of comedy happening. This movie is worth nobody's time, especially Farrell's.

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