It's strange how people look at Will Farrell movies & think Will is the funny guy. Will is sometimes a weird guy (in fact in this soccer movie, he is a weird coach). But in most movies, Wills best moments are making others seem funny when they play off of him.

In this movie where the Bad News Bears do soccer in a way, Will Ferrell makes Mike Ditka look good. He makes Robert Duvall look good. He even makes the kids look good. Will is just pretty much himself, weird and a little out of touch with reality. Make that a whole lot out of touch with reality.

Still, the support he gets in this movie is priceless. The concept of the team arriving late at a soccer game in a Butcher truck all wearing bloody aprons is inspired. Some of the other things are creative & cute too. The films end is predictable, but a little different. Overall, it is entertaining for a young audience.

Mike Ditka should find some more movie work. He is pretty good in this, & is missed when he leaves the film for a while.

This is a goofy Will Ferrell film. Not surprisingly, it's a rather conventional movie compared to many of his later films. Clearly this is NOT another "Talladega Nights" or "Stepbrothers". This isn't necessarily a complaint--just an observation that it's a relatively normal plot. At least, normal for a Will Ferrell film.

Ferrell plays a guy who is ALWAYS being put down by his hyper-competitive father (Robert Duvall--who is very reminiscent of the Great Santini in this role). It nags at Ferrell but he seems to have accepted this. However, when the job of coaching a kids soccer team is thrust upon him, his competitiveness comes out--since the best team in the league is coached by his awful father. Oddly, Ferrell is able to get some help from a guy who hates Duvall even more....coach Mike Ditka--who is pretty funny in this very off-beat role.

The first 75% of the film is pretty conventional. It's pure sports formula. However, due to the miracle of coffee (something Ferrell's character never drank before),much of the last 25% is amazingly weird--much weirder than films like "Lady Bugs" (a soccer film with Rodney Dangerfield) or "The Bad News Bears". In fact, this portion is the best part of the movie because it stops being so formulaic...for a while. However, at no point do you forget exactly how this film MUST end! So is it a great film...absolutely not. But it is quite enjoyable and worth seeing due to its goofiness. Not great but a decent little film.

Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) is always trying to live up to his super competitive father Buck (Robert Duvall). Buck is so competitive that he has a son at the same time as Phil. Buck plays his son Bucky (Josh Hutcherson) over Phil's son Sam (Dylan McLaughlin) in their little league soccer team. It gets so bad that Buck trades Sam away to the worst team in the league. Phil needs help and gets Buck's arch-nemesis next door neighbor Chicago Bears legendary coach Mike Ditka.

This Will Ferrell character may be getting too familiar to people. He has made a living playing the same idiot all the time. So it's understandable if the critics are tired of him. But the big discovery is Mike Ditka. His combative relationship with Robert Duvall is hilarious. When you put two great men together, Will Ferrell's childlike behavior is even more funnier. The chemistry of the three men is perfectly suited.