Robert Duvall often plays tough guys with names like Hub, Boss, Mac, Doc or Bull. What a hoot to have him cast as Buck, the competitive, unyielding father to child-man goofball Will Ferrell in "Kicking and Screaming." The comedic tension between these polar opposites jumps off the screen and nearly explodes when Mike Ditka (yep, That Mike Ditka) enters the picture.

Ferrell—the most successful big screen ex-SNL cast member since Bill Murray—plays Phil Weston, a sensitive non-athlete (his attempts at track and field are the film’s hilarious opening scenes), who has always felt diminished in his father’s judgmental eyes.

Duvall, in a near comedic parody of the steely father figure he portrayed in "The Great Santini," always tries to one-up his son, beating him at nearly everything. He even announces his marriage to a much younger woman moments before Phil decides to reveal his own marital plans.

When Buck "trades" Phil’s son to another soccer team to improve his chances to win the championship, Phil is incensed and decides to coach his son’s new team. So Buck and Phil are once again competing, only this time on the soccer field.

What sounds like serious melodrama on paper comes off as laugh-out-loud comedy with Ferrell on board. Between his emotional outbursts, physical slapstick and general outrageousness, Ferrell is the center and heart of this family film. In fact, there isn’t one scene in the entire movie that doesn’t contain Ferrell’s mug, so if you are not a fan—stay away. This is definitely the Will Ferrell Show.

Phil’s rag-tag team is the usual group of misfits, kids who don’t give a lick about kicking a soccer ball, so he enlists the help of his father’s arch enemy—Mike Ditka—to whip the kids into shape. Ditka’s performance—as himself—is highly entertaining. Apparently, he loves his leaf blower and takes great pleasure in transplanting all of his leaves into Buck’s yard next door. The two old coots argue over the fence like bickering old ladies. There is nothing Ditka would like more than to beat Buck’s soccer team.

Iron Mike’s gruff coaching method proves to be perfect comedy material when thrust upon a group of little boys. And of course, the ever-sensitive Phil tries to couch every Ditka tirade with some positive affirmation. But it’s the coffee that becomes the turning point for Phil.

"Coffee is the life blood that drives the dreams of champions," Ditka tells the uncaffeinated Phil. In true Ferrell fashion, Phil becomes a total coffee addict, causing a fight at the local Starbucks and installing a cappuccino machine at the soccer field. Coffee was never funnier.

There is much to howl about in this charming family film. Everyone is slightly afraid of Ditka, but his wife can reduce him to a schoolboy when she catches him smoking cigars in the house. The tether ball match between Phil and Buck is a mastery of physical comedy. The Italian soccer phenoms recruited by Ditka are ruled by a butcher uncle who demands that "the meat comes first!" setting up a funny bit with the meat truck on the soccer field.

Sandwiched between the summer release of "Bewitched" and his last roles in "Anchorman" and "Elf," "Kicking and Screaming" might seem to be too much of the 38-year-old Ferrell, except that this talented comedian manages to reinvent himself ever so slightly with each new role. As Phil Weston, a sensitive father and husband searching to resolve issues with his own dad, Ferrell not only garners huge laughs but sends a positive message home as well.