Dodgeball hits target but just bounces off, leaves no sting

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2004)

Not sure where this film failed to be a gut-buster. On paper with the actors, and even some of the movies quotes listed at IMDb, it seems like it should have rated higher on the mirth meter.
In retrospect, I think one problem is the film hangs so much upon Stiller's inflated lampooning of the White Goodman character. It's done somewhat cleverly and no doubt aggressively enough, but you never get the sense that behind it all Stiller feels anything remotely resembling a connection to his character. It's more of a class clown tour-de- force that just wears thin over the course of a full-length film.
All "those beautiful people are really ugly and vapid" moments are kind of undercut by a culture that has already seen celebrities at their worst volumes one, two, ad nauseum.
In addition, Stiller's character sort of obliterates Vince Vaughan whom I was looking to seeing more from. Vaughan's humor tends to be more subtly acerbic, and typically you're not so sure who's in on the joke. He's too cool to be cool, too dorky to be dorky?
It's got to be so hard to write, rehearse, re-shoot and edit a comedy...and keep some sort of truly improvisational zip to it. I think that's why we hunger so much for the bloopers and outtakes. A big part of comedy is the juxtaposition of two really unexpected forces...but many of us have already seen too many "everything-and-the- kitchen-sink" comedies. Even the principals in the voice-over commented on this when talking about the dodge wrenches scene.
More interesting was the alternate ending suggested with the DVD and again discussed in the voice-over. We are to believe the studios wrenched a happy ending for these Bad News Nerd Bears.
That coupled with the end-of-the-credits lard of the Milkshake dance by Stiller, hint at a darker, stronger comedy. Plated with latex, Stiller taunts America with the payoff that they wanted... and says "You happy? Fatty make a funny?"
The dance and play on the already too often parodied pop song are no big deal. However that one line was arrestingly funny for me.
That left a mark for me. The other barrage of humor is a mix of hits and misses that will probably depend more on when and who you see the film with.
So I guess Dodgeball hits square on the grundle, 5/10.