As mentioned before, Will Ferrell is not a bad actor, and when given good material, he can be hilarious... but nothing about Kicking and Screaming was good. Ferrell tends to run the gauntlet from playing a completely over-the-top character like Ron Burgundy in Anchorman to a meek and timid wimp like he is here. Of course, he does best in that borderline middle ground -- think Old School and Everything Must Go. Kicking had Ferrell in a Little Giants-like situation where he was coaching a little league soccer team where he was completely unqualified, but did it anyway to win the approval of his jerk of a father (Robert Duvall). It was retreading on past material and just not that interesting -- but not worse than his turn in Bewitched, which opened a few months later. Not a high bar, though.
