Surprisingly hilarious.

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2004)

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY is the surprising comedy about the owner of Average Joe's Gym, Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), who finds his gym wanting to be bought out by fitness mogul White Goodman (Ben Stiller) to add to the monolith that is his GloboGym. The only way to prevent his gym from being bought out is to somehow turn up with $50,000--which, needless to say, is quite a stretch. In a moment of genius, one of the gym's attendants, Gordon (Stephen Root), suggests they go to the Dodgeball Championships in Las Vegas and try to win the grand prize of (coincidentally) $50,000. The Average Joe's team assembles and, though they are lousy at first, win the required regional match and are in. With the help of retired dodgeball champ Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), the team improves and goes on to the Championships--where Goodman and his bunch of goons are also playing to try to stop Average Joe's from winning the prize.
Why is DODGEBALL a surprising comedy? Because it's actually hilarious. From the previews, I wouldn't have thought so. But they were misleading--this was an extremely funny film. The main credit should go to Ben Stiller, who was truly hilarious as Goodman. The facial expressions he makes in this movie are classic. Vince Vaughn is given what is, in my opinion, a boring role with few jokes, but he does great with it, as does the rest of the supporting cast with their roles. One of the best comedic ensembles I've seen in a while.
As for the comedy itself... the majority of the physical stuff is stupid. That's what made me think that it looked stupid from the previews--all that they showed was physical stunts. The getting-hit-in-the-balls gag is completely overdone, and used at least 10 times in this movie. The training scenes and the dodgeball games don't strike me as very funny; instead, it's the jokes and particularly Ben Stiller's character that made me crack up. My particular favorite scene involved the painting of the bull--the way it was painted made me almost fall out of my seat with laughter.
The story is overworked, but charming and cute. The outcome of the final dodgeball game is entirely predictable, but still manages to pose as a happy and satisfying end to the movie. The hookup between Peter and his lawyer Kate (Christine Taylor) is completely predictable as well, but this movie adds a funny spin on it. It does well with its plot and doesn't make it boring or uninteresting.
After seeing DODGEBALL, it may have just replaced MEAN GIRLS as the funniest movie I've seen recently. Surprisingly hilarious, minus the overdone and cluttering physical stunts. 8/10.