Product: Dodgeball/Borat Bonus Preview Disc (2004)
Rating: 3.0
There Really Is an International Dodge Ball Federation
Let's get one thing straight: there really is, God help us, an International Dodge Ball Federation. That alone seems like enough of an excuse for a comedy about the sport. And lo, Ben Stiller saw that it was good and he made a movie about it with mixed results.Ben Stiller usually plays sympathetic, frustrated nerds who lose their tempers when things don't go their way. In Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, the usual Stiller charm has been dropped and replaced by an arrogant, irritating character named White Goodman. He is the founder of an extremely popular gym that has plans to expand by taking over extremely uptight, fastidious Peter La Fleur, played by Vince Vaughn.Just kidding! Of course Vaughn wouldn't play anyone uptight or fastidious. He's made a career out of playing easygoing regular Joes, sometimes with large vocabularies that betray a hint of intelligence, who don't work too hard and just want to get by in life. When Vaughn is paired with an even more mellow guy like Owen Wilson, it makes Vaughn look animated in comparison and the two become an excellent combination of mellow/acerbic. See Wedding Crashers for a more palatable mix.But alas, Wilson isn't in this film. Instead, Le Fleur is backed by a cast of equally lovable idiots, including obscure sportsphile Gordon (Stephen "Red Stapler" Root), clueless Owen (Joel Moore), normal guy Dwight (Chris Williams), the appropriately named Justin (Justin Long), and for some reason that only Stiller understands, Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk). Le Fleur falls hard for the lovely Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor and Stiller's wife), a lawyer in the employ of Goodman.How can our just-like-you gaggle of guys possibly beat the overcoifed, hyperactive Goodman? Why, with a little training from the dodgeball champion himself, Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn). Patches is the funniest character in the entire movie. That's not a compliment.Like the ill-fated Anchorman, Dodgeball is actually more amusing to quote than it is to watch. Stiller is much funnier as an underdog and makes for a two-dimensional villain. Vaughn is unbelievable as a successful business owner and flounders without a foil to play off of. Taylor tries, again, to be the straight woman like she did in Anchorman, but she's too slickly attractive to pull it off convincingly.Thing is, Dodgeball doesn't care if you like it. Jason Bateman, Lance Armstrong, Chuck Norris, William Shatner, and David Hasslehoff all make appearances, so it's obvious the film doesn't take itself too seriously. On the other hand, the amusement around these characters being in the movie depends directly on the cultural relevance to the audience. The Chuck Norris jokes are getting a little creaky.If you watch Dodgeball with your buddies and a case of beer, it definitely earns five stars. Otherwise it's merely a passable entry in the goofy sports genre.