I gave it a chance, and I really enjoyed it!

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2004)

To start with, I cannot stand Ben Stiller. If I had realized he was in this I wouldn't have bothered. But we arrived late for our intended movie and Dodgeball was starting soon, so we decided to see it.
Within the first 15 minutes I was pretty repulsed and I even considered walking out, because I couldn't take another hour of stupid jokes and an obvious, simple plot. But I would have missed out on a hilarious movie! The fact that you're supposed to dislike Ben Stiller's character certainly helped me stop wincing when he came on the screen. So I lightened up and gave it a chance. In a short time I went from rolling my eyes and smirking at each ridiculous joke to laughing out loud even at every *thunk* of a dodgeball into someone's head.
The movie doesn't get annoying stupid and actually has some pretty intelligent wit woven in. I loved the instructional film the teenage kid dug up on How To Play Dodgeball. And the sidekick comments of the ESPN-8 sportscast were great. Oh! and Lance Armstrong's sardonic empathy for La Fleur -- my jaw dropped when Lance popped up on the screen! The movie really picked up speed as it progressed and the laughs and fun just kept coming.