Stiller makes it fly

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2004)

OK, this might be a paint by the numbers, summer flick. You have the routine
good guys vs. bad guys. You have the "if only we could win this tournament, we could...." Yes, in that respect, this film is not creating anything too new. However, where this film succeeds, where so many others like it fail, is due to the great Ben Stiller. Stiller plays an outrageous, narcissistic, borderline homosexual, bad guy. When Stiller is on the screen, laughter abounds. Somewhat strangely, he is not on the screen as much as you think he would be. This movie is told around Vince Vaughn's character, who is trying to hold on to his sleepy little gym, which is being threatened for takeover by Stiller's "Globo-Gym." Vaughn reluctantly agrees to enter a dodgeball tourney to win the $50,000 Grand Prize. Of course, $50,000 is the exact amount him and his oddballs that call the gym home, need to keep it. Well, it is a summer Hollywood film, so you can guess what happens. There are some really nice cameos here and the film is entertaining. Is it as brilliant as "Zoolander"? No, but it is better than "Starskey and Hutch." I guess that is something.