KICKING & SCREAMING — ** 1/2 — Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Mike Ditka; rated PG (slapstick violence, vulgarity, mild profanity); see Page W2 for theaters.

With a formula film, you have to have just the right ingredients to make it work. In the case of "Kicking & Screaming," that's Will Ferrell.

Having apparently seen what he did with the comedy hits "Elf" and "Old School," the makers of this formulaic sports comedy were apparently content to let Ferrell run wild. And he's clearly just riffing here, making up things as he goes along. (Let's hope the eventual DVD will feature outtakes, so we can see just how far out there he went.)

"Kicking & Screaming" is a cousin to such underdog comedies as "Bad News Bears" and "The Sandlot," and the fact that it garners any real laughs is due to Ferrell. Even with him, this flimsy comic construct will quickly fade from memory.

Ferrell stars as Phil Weston, a mild-mannered vitamin salesman who's at odds with his ultra-competitive father, Buck (Robert Duvall). Their family feud reaches new lows when youth-league soccer coach Buck "trades" Phil's son Sam (Dylan McLaughlin) to a losing team.

Though Buck has actually done this to give his bench-warmer grandson an opportunity for more playing time, Phil considers it an insult. So he jumps at the opportunity to coach Sam's team, hoping to exact some revenge.

Unfortunately, Phil inherits the league's worst team. So he recruits his father's nemesis, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, to help rally the troops.

With the support of this coaching legend, who recruits two Italian soccer prodigies (Francesco Liotti and Alessandro Ruggiero), Phil's team starts racking up wins. But as he begins subscribing to Ditka's win-at-all-costs philosophy, Phil discovers he's turning into his father.

Thanks to director Jesse Dylan's flat direction, few scenes have comic punch. And his odd pacing makes the film feel longer than its relatively short running time.

Still, he had the good sense to defer to Ferrell, who does garner his share of laughs. His natural goofiness makes the character of Phil more likable — especially over the course of the film's final third, as he turns into a self-involved jerk.

But you kind of wish the movie made better use of Duvall, who disappears for long portions, apparently to give more time to Ditka, whose self-parodying bluster amuses at first but quickly gets old.

"Kicking & Screaming" is rated PG for some athletic and slapstick-style violence, some suggestive humor and references, and scattered use of mild profanity (mostly religiously based). Running time: 97 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com