Ben Stiller steals the show, cuts loose and shows what a great comedy actor he is

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2005)

Ben Stiller has made a successful film career from being a great comedy character actor. With films like "Zoolander" and "Starsky and Hutch" Stiller has formed memorably hilarious characters people will still be quoting in years to come. His character in Dodgeball is no different but not only does Stiller steal the limelight of this picture but in my opinion pulls off one of, if not the best comic performance of his career Stiller plays "White Goodman" an egotistical fitness maniac bent on domination of the complete health market. He is determined to destroy another local gym Average Joes by what ever means he can, and when he hears the Average Joe staff are entering a dodge-ball tournament to pay off their increasing debts Goodman cannot refuse heating up the competition by signing his own team up in direct competition. Goodman is portrayed as the pinnacle of self improvement in both gaining the "perfect body" from being a seriously obese man and acquiring a fortune from his self build corporation Globo-gym. Stiller makes this character so over the top in his appearance from sporting a supremely blow-dried mullet and Fu Manchu moustache to wearing garish leather outfits not seen since the late 70's. What makes Goodman such a superb parody of all fitness gurus everywhere is Stiller's never failing ability to bring embarrassing laughs and cringes from the audience and make a complete fool of himself at the same time. In one memorable scene in this film he tries to "woo" bank officer Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) by pumping up his crutch with an air pump and delivering supposedly witty lines (including some very bad punning on the word shackles) that was so cringe worthy and embarrassing it almost made me turn from watching it. I'm glad I didn't because every line Stiller delivers is perfectly timed and executed for its full comic value. Dodgeball without Stiller would have scored a very low mark on my rating as to be brutally honest as much as I love this film the story line is extremely corny. The Average Joes gym has serious debts and needs to pay them off before they lose the land the gym is built on. It so happens there is a Dodgeball tournament that will pay the winner the exact amount of money they needed to raise to save the gym. Of course with the addition of the Globo-gym team it was obvious from the start who was going to win the tournament and who the final would be contested between this predictability made the film seriously slow down in pace in the final third which is a little disappointing. The only thing else to really stand out from this film was the character of Patches O'Houlihan played by Rip Torn a wheelchair bound ex-dodge-ball all star who coaches the Average Joe's team with such methods and advice as "if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball" and "your playing like a bunch of retards trying to hump a door knob". However all said about the cheesy storyline, if you want a film where Ben Stiller steals the show, cuts loose and shows what a great comedy actor he is Dodgeball is definitely for you.