Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Phil Weston has been unathletic his entire life. In college he failed at every sport that he tried out for. It looks like his 10-year old son, Sam, is following in his footsteps. But when Phil's hyper-competitive dad benches Sam, Phil decides to transfer his son to a new team which needs a coach. Phil steps in to be the temporary coach and immediately begins to butt heads with his dad over this new competition in their lives.
Kicking & Screaming is a formulaic underdog sports comedy that hits every expected beat: incompetent coach, ragtag team, rivalry with a domineering parent, and a climactic game. Will Ferrell brings his signature manic energy and Robert Duvall is an amusing foil, lifting the acting above the script's limitations. Cinematography is functional and unremarkable, typical of mid-2000s family comedies. The premise offers little novelty — it recycles the same template as countless youth sports comedies before it. The ending resolves predictably with lessons learned all around, adding nothing surprising or emotionally resonant to the genre.