Kicking and Screaming (1995 film)
Much of the film was shot at Occidental College.
Jason Blum, Baumbach's college roommate who was producing a film for the first time, obtained financing after receiving a letter from family acquaintance Steve Martin endorsing the script. Blum attached the letter to copies of the script he sent around Hollywood. "Kicking and Screaming" received mostly positive reviews, with many critical assessments describing it as remarkably competent for a directorial and writing debut, expecting that Baumbach would "graduate to better things." On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10, and with the critical consensus reading: "Witty and watchable yet undeniably flawed, "Kicking and Screaming" marks writer-director Noah Baumbach as an emerging talent with intriguing potential." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Roger Ebert praised the film's "good eye and a terrific ear; the dialogue by writer-director Noah Baumbach is not simply accurate... but a distillation of reality–elevating aimless brainy small-talk into a statement." Reviews often mentioned the thin and meandering plot, but most noted this as a facet of the characters' life stage. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" stated, ""Kicking and Screaming" occupies its postage-stamp size terrain with confident comic style." According to Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times", "You begin to wonder why you're bothering to watch the aimless lives of these four unfold... At 25 he may be too close to the material to achieve the detachment from which irony and meaning flow." The film premiered in 1995 at the New York Film Festival to critical acclaim. Baumbach was chosen as one of "Newsweek"s "Ten New Faces of 1996". The film appeared in several "Top Ten" lists, and had a lengthy run playing on the Sundance Film Channel. The Criterion Collection DVD was released August 22, 2006 in the U.S.
Reception and legacy
Kicking and Screaming is a 1995 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Noah Baumbach in his feature directorial debut.