Patman

Overall, a fun soccer romp featuring Will Ferrell doing what he does best, going for a laugh no matter how silly it makes him lood.

There were plenty of laughs for the family-oriented film, and most could sympathize with the situations of how nutty competition can get when adults lose sight of why the games are played by the kids.

I give it 3 stars or a grade of B (specifically for being entertaining for its genre.)

(Did a search, but didn't see a thread for this film, please merge if there is an existing thread. TIA.)

scott shelton

It has terribly funny moments, but it REALLY is a poorly made film. They were just making it up as they went.

The cast deserves better than Jesse Dylan.

Matthew Chmiel

I actually believe that Jesse Dylan could be a good director when having the right material already in place (American Wedding). When he doesn't, the film will end up being a failure (How High).

I don't blame Dylan as the film's fault, I blame the writers. These two originally wrote the original screenplays to The Santa Clause and Space Jam. Despite the fact they helped write the extremely underrated US television series remake of My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, I don't expect much from these two. The directing is fairly simple for what is a cliched film involving a kids' sportsteam that goes from losers to winners, so I wasn't expecting much from Dylan on that front (I'm happy he's still contuining to shoot films in scope). However, the writers needed more originality to make the screenplay differ from that of the likes of say The Bad News Bears, The Mighty Ducks, or dare I say it, Disney's The Big Green.

It also doesn't help sticking Will Ferrell in a role that is pretty much predetermined by the screenplay. What made Anchorman so fucking great was that it was Will (and the cast) doing their own thing. While you can see some moments of that in the film, it's not enough.

While I did enjoy watching the film, it was pretty much fluff. Something to watch to pass 90 minutes of your time when you're bored and have nothing else to do. While the genre has seen better days (I prefer the great D2), the flick is better than 95% of the crap that has come out this year. And it helps that it's an actual family film that families and their children can enjoy together...

Oh, and did anyone else see that this film was another Apatow reunion? David Bowe (Heavyweights), Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks), and Timm Sharp (Undeclared) all had little roles during the film.

HistoryProf

Bill from Freaks and Geeks was a nice bit part as was "Michael Bolton" has the ref.

it was formulaic fluff, but i'v had a lot less fun with my 6 year old at the movies...I laughed a lot and enjoyed it thoroughly. But i'm one of those that feels Ferrell is simply incapable of not being funny, a la Bill Murray.

sauce07

They should rename this Little Giants 2
I give it 2 stars, love farrell but this was a tad weak. hopefully his next movie will be better...Nevermind it's Bewitched.

scott shelton

The movie had a screenplay? You could've fooled me...

As for Jesse Dylan, I don't see it yet. Just because you have a shot into an orange cone of Ferrell screaming, doesn't mean you have to use it. The whole film is lacking pace, consistency, and kid film nuance - something ELF had in spades. KICKING really makes one appreciate just how well made ELF was.

Dylan a lousy comedy director (check out the angles on Stiffler's "Dance off" in WEDDING for proof of that), and knows very little about timing, and trusting children to be funny.

I can't get on the Dylan bandwagon yet. KICKING was such a huge missed opportunity. I'm angry at him.

Matthew Chmiel

Well it's not like I was saying Dylan's the next Kurosawa. I'm just saying, from what I've seen, when he has the right material in place, he can direct a film decently.

However, at the moment, he's had one good movie, one decent movie, and one piece of shit. If he keeps it up by putting out more crap, he'll be forever known as a one-trick pony.

The Bus

Agreed!

Now I know why something always seemed "off" with American Wedding. Compare that dance-off to the dance-off in say, Zoolander ("walk off") or even Starsky & Hutch.

atari2600

HELARIOUS movie!!! its a must see for any will ferrell fan.

and those two italian soccer playing kids? holy crap they are good - where did htey find them?

Patman

In an Italian meathouse, of course.

Meat comes first!

The Bus

I was a bit offended by this, but not really. Recently I saw the trailer for this movie on one of the Spanish-language networks here (possibly Univisión or Telemundo) and the whole trailer was kids playing soccer in slo-mo. I thought it was kind of sad and funny at the same time. I just picture someone at the studio saying, "Well, those Latins like soccer, right?"

taa455

Rented this over the weekend. Some really funny parts (especially when Ferrell went on his juice box rant. Everyone wave bye to juice box!) Any fans of Ferrell will find this enjoyable I think. Wow Mike Ditka is a terrible actor! Still funny though.

darkshadowdog

Acting was funny but in general the overall movie was pretty bad... I give it a C+...

lotsofdvds

The coffee subplot was more entertaining than anything else in the movie.