Some funny parts, more stupid parts.

Rating: 6/10 (23 April 2005)

It should be noted that stupid parts are often funny, too, I still haven't figured out what it is exactly that makes one stupid scene funny and another one just stupid and vulgar. The mashed potato scene in Scary Movie 2, for example, was not funny by any stretch of the imagination. If you really liked that, you should try hanging out in a mental hospital or a physical therapy ward or something, you will be in absolute hysterics. Then again, I loved the Ace Ventura films, and stupidity is the foundation for most of the successful comedy in it, at least to me. Now, when I watch a comedy like Dodgeball, clearly I am looking at the ratio to stupid scenes that don't work and stupid scenes that work. Dodgeball had more of the former.
The story is about a regular guy who owns a gym and an obscenely rich and snobby guy who owns a massive gym across the street from him and who spends not a little bit of time trying to run the average guy out of business. Thhe initial problem that I had was that Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller are very different actors, not the least reason for which is that Vaughn can play characters as different as the characters he played in Clay Pigeons and The Cell, whereas Stiller plays exactly the same character in every movie, he only seems to alter how irritating his characters are (think Meet the Parents vs. his character here). Then again, he capitalizes on his weaknesses, kind of like David Spade.
But in the movie, Vaughn reminds me of a guy dealing with some drunken jerk at a party, trying to shrug off his ridiculous and embarrassing behavior but eventually giving in and knocking the guy on his ass. Stiller is so over the top that there is no way to take him any more seriously than as a comic book villain. He is tiring to watch before the first third of the movie is over.
There are effective gags in the movie, it is not all bad. The plot is fun to watch, because not only is White Goodman (Stiller) annoying to watch, but he is also a complete jerk, so you really want to root for the underdogs, and the movie makes very sure that you see them as underdogs in every way imaginable. But it should be noted that the best scene in the movie involves Vince Vaughn at the airport, having given up on his team, when he runs into someone that I won't reveal. They have a normal conversation, no over-the-top antics, and it's the funniest thing in the movie.
Then again, maybe I just thought so because I enjoy ridiculously long bike rides.