I laughed...and that says a lot

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2004)

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Stars
Let's get one thing perfectly clear before we even start. I had no intentions of seeing Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. None. Forking over a double-digit cash sum to be reminded of the welts I used to get in junior high playing the ridiculous game was of absolutely no appeal. Couple that with Ben Stiller playing yet another character that is so over the top that I won't know whether to laugh or to feel sorry for the guy, and I had a recipe for a long sit through.
However, my trains all lined up perfectly and it was too nice of a day to waste it outside on a patio somewhere, so there I was, standing at an automated ticket counter, scanning my bank card to purchase a ticket for a movie that that I was surprised to see Ebert & Roper give two thumbs up. (By scanning, I don't have to say the title out loud and embarrass myself in a crowd).
Dodgeball has the most simplistic of stories to understand. Man needs money to save gym. Man enters team into tournament. Man wins tournament and gets the woman. In short, I guess the premises of the film could have been written on cave walls some 7000 years ago, and based on its brand of humor..it just may have.
The 'man' is Peter LeFleur played by Vince Vaughn, he of Starsky & Hutch, Zoolander and any other film that a Stiller or an Owen brother is attached.
Peter owns a local gym that has caught the eye of White Goodman (Stiller) the driving force behind a state of the art gym facility that is franchised across the street. Due to accounting ignorance, Peter's gym, Average Joe's, is in financial woe and Goodman buys the second mortgage leaving Pete with the only option of amassing $50,000 in 30-days to save the establishment. So determined to be the David to the Goodman's Goliath, Peter and his friends come up with the hair-brained idea of entering a Dodgeball contest in Las Vegas in hopes of brandishing the prize money to thwart the bank's foreclosure.
But things are not as easy as it would seem, and dodgeball is not like the game you and I might remember from the day. The rules are pretty much the same. Six balls, five players per team. Hit the person on the other side of the court and they are out. Catch a ball and you can get one of your members back in. But that is where the similarities end. Teams now consist of rugged, fierce characters with each team having a theme (girl scouts, kamikazes etc). Dodgeball is now a spectator sport with qualifying rounds and a 32-team tournament that even has ESPN 8 interested with coverage. In short, it's come a long way, baby.
So the stage was set for what was an inevitable set up pitting team Average Joe against the team fielded by Gobo Gym's, Goodman. Bring on the balls!
Dodgeball made me laugh. Plain and simple. Stupid? Yes. But funny? Definitely. If it wasn't chuckling to myself when instructor Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn) is training the young group by having them dodge wrenches, I was laughing out loud at the best commentary during a sporting event (courtesy of Gary Cole and Jason Bateman) since Bob Uecker in Major League. From Stiller's ridiculous Goodman to Vaughn's straight man Peter, there is a perfect mix of characters and comedy that might just make this film a bigger hit this summer than the studio anticipated.
Still not convinced? Well how about cameos by William Shatner, Chuck Norris, Lance Armstrong and even German adored David Hasselhoff. Each of these bit parts were non-gratuitous and damn down funny. To watch Lance give a speech on how he was diagnosed with four areas of cancer at the same time and yet still managed to win the Tour de France for five straight years is self-depreciating acting at its finest without degrading the actual person.
To recommend Dodgeball at the office water cooler is to guarantee yourself a reputation as someone who's opinions ought to be questioned. But if you strip the movie down to just its essentials (that is, take the love story out, cause you know how that is going to end. Take the suspense of what decision Pete is going to make, cause you know how that is going to end), then the movie is a great way to spend a day during the summer with some friends. For trust me, in about 6 months time, everyone will be talking about how they rented this movie and laughed alongside their friends and loved ones at the same carnage that brought me sympathy in Junior High. Besides, what other sport could have a team motto as fun as 'Aim Low'?