Thoughts on the movie “Kicking & Screaming”

On Saturday I went to a matinee of the movie “Kicking & Screaming”.  Before I share my thoughts I wanted to make a comment about the trailers.  Since the audience was a good mix of parents and kids and Will Ferrell fans, like me it was interesting to see how the audience reacted to the trailers.  The first trailer was for The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3-D.  I have seen this trailer a few times now and personally I think this looks like a strange movie.  The crowd itself did not react to it at all.  I would be surprised if this does well.  It kind of reminds me a bit of the Spy Kids movies which have done well but I guess time will tell.  Next up was the trailer for the next Harry Potter movie; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  All of the kids were going crazy for this and it is really just their teaser trailer.  I am really going out on a limb and saying that this movie will do well this fall.  Next up was Bewitched.  Personally I think there are too many remakes and not knowing anything about this movie I was happy to see that they just were not going to try and remake the TV show but to poke fun at a remake of the TV show.  Will Ferrell plays a struggling star actor that decided to have a comeback around staring as Darrin Stephens on a new version of Bewitched.  He finds an unknown actress in Nicole Kidman to play Samantha the witch.  The kicker is that she is a witch in real life.  I think it will actually be fun.  The adults were laughing and the kids seem to enjoy the trailer also.  After that it was the new Herbie the Love Bug movie; Herbie: Fully Loaded.  This was another one when I first saw a trailer I really was not sure.  This was a new trailer and give the audience response I think Disney has a winner on their hands.  I am not sure how you could not like Lindsay Lohan.  I do not recall seeing Michael Keaton in the trailer I saw the first time but he looks like he has a great part and considering he had not done anything in a few years this will be great to see him again.  I also think Matt Dillon will be great as the comic relief in the movie.  The last Herbie movie was in the early 80’s and it is good to see it come back again.
OK now on to my thoughts about “Kicking & Screaming”.  I have always enjoyed soccer and I also have enjoyed Will Ferrell so I thought this might make for a fun movie and it was.  I guess I have had my head in a hole or something because I did not know who really was in the movie.  Robert Duvall does a great job playing Ferrell’s father.  Mike Ditka plays himself as Duvall’s neighbor.  The kids in the movie were great but I think at times they rely too much on the character Byong Sun played by Elliot Cho to carry some of the comedy.  The plot of the movie is kind of simple.  Ferrell growing up never could quite please his dad as an athlete.  Due to an interesting set of circumstances the birth of Ferrell’s first child is also the day that his step mom has a child which is his brother.  Fast-forward in time and uncle and grandson are playing on same soccer team, the best team in the league, until grandpa trades away the grandson to a losing team because he is just a benchwarmer.  On the new team the coach is MIA so Ferrell steps up to coach the team and now the competition is set with father and son coaching against each other in the same league.  Ferrell turns to Ditka to get help with coaching the team and Ditka only agrees because he hates Duvall as his neighbor.  As expected the two can turn the team around, with help of a few ringers, and they meet up against Duvall’s team in the final.  I will not spoil the ending for you.  All and all it was a fairly funny movie.  There is a running gag on Ferrell becoming addicted to coffee which really hits home from someone living in Seattle (although I do not drink coffee at all – go figure).  All and all I think this is a great movie for kids and adults.  Kids were laughing the whole way through and there are enough jokes and gags that only adults will appreciate to keep them interested also.  If you are not seeing the new Star Wars you should go see this movie, unless you are not a Will Ferrell fan.

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