Kicking & Screaming

Kicking & Screaming is a 2005 sports comedy film starring Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Kate Walsh, Josh Hutcherson and Mike Ditza as himself.

Plot
Phil Weston (Will Ferrell), the son of famed soccer coach Buck Weston (Robert Duvall), goes to head-to-head with his father in sports tournaments.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While the story is original, it is very weak and poorly executed.
 * 2) Phil is a rude and unlikable soccer coach, not to mention the fact that he is also a name caller and is even mean to the kids on his team (e.g. in one scene, Phil calls a kid "fartface" and calls a kid "loser" while he's using a traffic cone as a bullhorn.)
 * 3) There are a lot of innuendos, including in an advertisement where Phil and Buck state in their sporting goods advertisement "We've got balls!" in a PG rated film.
 * 4) Weak supporting characters.
 * 5) The film tries too hard to make the humor funny, but a majority of the jokes fall flat.
 * 6) Phil gets more imbecilic during a quarter of the entire film and he comes off as annoying.
 * 7) The scene where Phil sings Get Ready for This was awkward and unfunny.
 * 8) The title of the film unintentionally sounds more like a title for a black comedy film than a sports or family comedy film.
 * 9) There is a scene where a kid eats a worm, which is extremely gross for a PG rated film.

Good Qualities

 * 1) There are a lot of fun sports action scenes.
 * 2) The competition scenes are pretty awesome.
 * 3) Phil has a change of heart near the end and decides to reconcile with Buck.
 * 4) There are some amusing quotes like when Phil says "I'm like a tornado of anger swirling about!"
 * 5) Some of the acting is decent.
 * 6) The film does have a potential for a sports comedy film.
 * 7) The music is decent.

Reception
The film was released on May 13, 2005 and received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. The film currently holds a 42% critic approval score on Rotten Tomatoes with an average of 5.03 out of 10. The critic consensus reads "The script is mediocre and fails to give Ferrell a proper comedic showcase." On Ebert & Roeper, critics Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert both gave the film a "thumbs up". Felix Vasquez of Cinema Crazed stated in his review "Is this all there is to Ferrell's career? Mediocre comedies, and wasted talent?" Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post stated "Ferrell is one of the film's few bright lights. It's a shame to hide that subversive beacon under a bushel of dully inspirational sports movie cliches." On IMDb, the film currently holds a 5.6 out of 10.

Box Office
The film opened up at #2 on its opening weekend and grossed $20,159,925 domestically on its opening weekend. It later made a total domestic gross of $52,842,724. In foreign countries, it made $3,227,709. Overall, the film made a worldwide gross of $56,070,433 against its $45 million budget making it somewhat of a box office disappointment.

Awards and nominations
Kicking & Screaming was nominated for one Golden Raspberry Award for for Will Ferrell as Worst Actor (also for Bewitched). It was also nominated for four Teen Choice Awards including Choice Movie Hissy Fit for Will Ferrell. It was also nominated for a Young Artist Award for Steven Anthony Lawrence for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor.

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