Great Film: Kicking & Screaming
A formulaic cliché, true. But also a colourful, honest, and straightforward entertainment. I liked it.
I liked this movie. Sometimes a 'simple' movie can be colourful enough,
and entertaining enough, without having to be great or artsy. 'Kicking
and Screaming' was very formulaic. I actually found myself predicting
each step and outcome as the plot unfolded--- the adult abused child,
his dad, and his son, and the three generations colliding. The re-play
of the overbearing father thing, the adult man vowing to never be like
his father, but then getting accidentally caught up in the same dynamic
himself. then the sports movie redemption, etc., etc.
It sounds like a cliché, and it is--- but, oddly, I found myself more
surprised than annoyed as each cliché denouement surfaced. I kept
thinking, as the cliché loomed--- 'Nahhhh... they wouldn't do that.
There must be some slick tricky twist coming up.' Nope. No twists, no
tricks--- all the clichés play through exactly like you expected them
to. But there was a certain courage and honesty about that, which I
greatly admired. They had a simple, straight-forward, no-nonsense
formula story, which they played out exactly as that. It was very
honest.
Robert Duvall--- always great. Will Ferrell, always funny. Mike Ditka,
as an actor--- he's a great football coach.
Cast
- Buck Weston played by Robert Duvall
- Phil Weston played by Will Ferrell
- Mike Ditka played by Mike Ditka
- Barbara Weston played by Kate Walsh
- Janice Weston played by Musetta Vander
- Sam Weston played by Dylan Mclaughlin
- Bucky Weston played by Josh Hutcherson
