Recently I had the honor of attending a premier of the new Will Ferrell movie Kicking & Screaming, courtesy of Grace Hill Media.
When I arrived at the theater I was amazed to see a huge line filled with children and parents. I quickly found out they would all be in the same movie as I was. Thankfully, I was warmly greeted by a representative of the movie and quickly informed that I would be seated in the VIP seating area. I was thrilled, not only because I got a great seat, but also because I was sitting next to fellow bloggers Rick Moore & his wife of Holy Coast and Matt Anderson & Keith Buhler of Mere-Orthodoxy, and also fellow members of the SCBA.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how family friendly this movie is. At first, I thought the movie was going to do its best to make sure that fathers looked stupid, but I was pleasantly surprised as the movie progressed to see that the writers understood the power of a father and his vulnerability.
Will Ferrell did a wonderful job of capturing my heart as I saw his journey through wanting to please his father, played by Robert Duvall. Ferrell showed convincing emotion, as he cries about his insecurities, and also as he is slowly transformed into an aggressive, overbearing coach - largely influenced by his assistant coach Mike Ditka, the winning coach of the Chicago Bears.
The movie was also very funny in its exaggeration of the influence of coffee. Ferrell's character was a vitamin salesman and never drank coffee before he becomes a coach. However, as we see his transformation, we see his addiction to coffee which was pretty hilarious.
The cast of child characters was also endearing. The standout child was the child that played the son of the politically-correct lesbian couple in the movie. Universal would've done well to leave that couple out of the movie. Thankfully, however, the innuendo may be lost to children. I hope.
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