DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Kicking & Screaming (1 Viewer)

[Steve Tannehill]

Kicking & Screaming Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 2005 (2005 Release) Rated: PG Aspect Ratio: 2.35x1, enhanced for 16x9 displays Audio: English, French, Spanish DD 5.1 Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; French and Spanish Subtitles Time: 1:34:46 Disc Format: SS/DL (DVD-9) Layer Switch: Yes Case Style: Keep Case The Feature: A little Will Ferrell goes a long way, but as with fellow TV comedian turned movie star Jim Carrey, there are roles suited to his particular style of humor. Kicking & Screaming is one of those movies. After learning that his son has been benched for a soccer game, Will--er--Phil is angered to learn that his uber-competitive father/coach Buck (Robert Duvall) has traded his grandson to another team. Phil ends up coaching the team, but after that does not go well, he enlists Buck's arch-enemy next-door neighbor Mike Ditka (yes, that Mike Ditka) to assist. Ditka brings in a couple of ringers, and the team begins to be whipped into shape, climbing the standings from last place. Will they make it to the finals and play Buck's undefeated team? Will older father and son reconcile? (And will younger father and son reconcile when history repeats itself?) It's all a tad formulaic towards the end, but I laughed a lot during the first half of Kicking & Screaming, especially during the scenes with Ditka. We are not exactly getting into new territory here (think Bad News Bears with coffee instead of alcohol) but this was a fine diversion. My 12-year-nephew said that the movie was sometimes painful, I will pretty much have to agree--anytime you get adults acting that silly, even I will tend to squirm). But enjoy the movie I did. The Feature: 3.5 / 5 Video: The video is not bad. The colors at the beginning are eye-popping. The textures, the clothing, the green, green grass of the soccer fields--they all look fine, and detailed. There is a touch of edge enhancement, but nothing terrible. Video: 4 / 5 Sound: The sound mix is primarily front-focused, with music and dialogue across the front soundstage. There are a couple of notable surround effects in the context of a soccer match, but this is not going to show off your sound system that much. Sound: 4 / 5 Extras: A healthy set of bonus features accompany Kicking and Screaming.

The Red Cards: Deleted Scenes (11:58) - 12 non-anamorphic widescreen clips, taken from nice-looking video. "You danced at Man Job!"

The Yellow Cards: Outakes (8:39) - Also non-anamorphic widescreen. Bloopers, mostly. It was fun watching Ditka flub his lines.

Alternate Takes (5:34) - when you have an improvisational actor like Will Ferrell, he does give a palate of choices. We see some of them here.

Kickin' It With The Kids (3:14) - a brief look at the children stars of the film

Soccer Camp (7:37) - okay, this really could have been The Bad News Bears were it not for the British soccer choreographer brought in to coach the children in the basics.

From Rome to Hollywood (8:55) - we see how the two Italian ringers were found

Behind the Net - The Making of Kicking & Screaming (13:00) - actually kinda funny... more Ditka! Oh, one last extra... a $0.55 coupon insert for ET TU Salad Kits. We're told that kids love these gourmet Caesar salads. I'm not exactly sure why salad coupons are an appropriate movie tie-in... coffee or barbecue would have been film-appropriate. Extras: 4 / 5 In Conclusion: Kicking & Screaming is an entertaining movie that makes a fun DVD. Bring on the coffee and some munchy Caesar salad. Overall Rating: 4 / 5 Release Date: October 11, 2005 Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/

 

[Yumbo]

the opening was pretty funny...guess I'll spin it up and finish watching.

 

[David Galindo]

Ill definitely give this a try; thanks!

 

[Craig Sherman]

While we're at it, is there any news on Noah Baumbach's Kicking & Screaming from 1995? Perhaps those in the know clicked this thread like I did. I completely forgot about the Ferrell movie.

CS

 

[Stephen Orr]

It's in my Netflix queue

 

[Craig Sherman]

Which?

 

[Jason Adams]

I saw it on the way back home from a flight from Seattle back to New York...it wasn't too bad. It's worth another rental.

 

[dpippel]

My wife and I screened this with our kids (12 and 9) a couple of days ago and all four of use were in agreement - the movie stunk. Unfunny, mean-spirited, and peppered with lousy characters, this film couldn't decide if it wanted to be funny, serious, or "touching" and ended up being none of the above. OK, I take some of that back. A few of the scenes between Ferrell and Mike Ditka earned a chuckle but that was about it. A pretty transfer though.

 

[Yumbo]

Thumbs up for kids.
Great picture - no visible EE at 185".

Silly Dolby trailer in 2.0

Great soccer footage.

WF is today's Jim Carrey - just less annoying.

oh, some good sound effects too.

 

[Shad R]

I liked it alot. Made me laugh more than I thought. I watched it with my roomy and a friend(both 23) and my friends mom. All of us laughed. A whole lot actually. There is a lot more adult humor in it than I thought there would be. The "different but better, different...better" speech was great. The coffee jokes were good, the kid with the cup and WF pushing and taunting 12 year olds was incredibly funny. Good picture and sound to boot. If you're on the fence, at least give it a try. I did and I ended up liking it.