Product: Dodgeball/Borat Bonus Preview Disc (2004)
Rating: 4.0
New spin on the oldest yarn
The "bunch of losers rallied into a champion team" story is one of the oldest in Hollywood, and this year's incarnation of the evergreen sub-genre is one of the best. It relies on something extremely simple: the inherent funniness of seeing someone get hit in the head. Thurber's screenplay piles joke upon joke - both visual and verbal - to the point of near-hysteria, especially during the training sequences and the early rounds of the tournament. Ben Stiller is marvellous as the ludicrously narcissistic/neurotic White Goodman, and the perfect foil to Vince Vaughn's almost somnambulistically unmotivated Peter La Fleur. The supporting cast and cameos are all great, but in the end it's Thurber's relentlessly witty screenplay that shines. It has a reassuring awareness of its own absurdity (from the elaborate subtitle, right down to the "Deus Ex Machina" emblazoned on the cash chest at the end), but respects the genre just enough to become one of its shining examples. Very refreshing, and a step up for Stiller and Vaughn from the surprisingly lukewarm "Starsky & Hutch".