Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story (Full Screen Edition) Reviews

• "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

  
  By A25ZVI6RH1KA5L on 2005-07-28
  Dodgeball...I remember it well, back from my grade school days...always aim for the face...or the `nads...and now there's actually league of adults out there playing it on a professional level? I'll never understand the absurdity of the regressive attitudes tied into taking the simplistic games we enjoyed playing when we were children and turning them into professional sporting events...I dunno, it kinda takes the magic out of being a kid...just my opinion, I suppose. Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Terry Tate, Office Linebacker), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) stars Vince Vaughn (Old School, Be Cool) and Ben Stiller (Meet the Parents, Starsky & Hutch). Also appearing is Stiller's wife Christine Taylor (The Brady Bunch Movie, The Wedding Singer), Rip Torn (The Beastmaster, Airplane II: The Sequel), Justin Long (Jeepers Creepers), Stephen Root ("NewsRadio", Office Space), Joel Moore (Art School Confidential), Chris Williams (Friday After Next), Alan Tudyk (I, Robot), Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development"), and Hank Azaria, the man behind the voice of Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Apu, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Prof. Frinkon, to name a few, on the TV show The Simpsons.
  
  As the movie begins we meet a character by the name of Peter La Fleur (Vaughn), owner and proprietor of the Average Joe's Gym. Business could certainly be better, but then Peter seems a soft touch, especially since he hasn't collected dues from his rather unique and distinctive membership (one guy thinks he's a pirate, and swears he'll pay off his debt once he remembers where he buried his treasure) in over a year. Anyway, seems the bank is in the process of foreclosure, prompted by Peter's competition in that of the highly narcissistic White Goodman (Stiller), who runs the high tech Globo Gym `Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it' across the street, having designs on acquiring the property, leveling it, and turning it into a auxiliary parking lot for his elite clientele. Peter learns from bank representative Kate Veatch (Taylor) that in order to save his gym he needs to raise $50,000 within 30 days, a seemingly insurmountable task, but opportunity comes in the form of a dodgeball tournement, one where the team that wins the finals, held in Las Vegas, is awarded a prize of the exact amount needed to save the gym. Goodman learns of Peter's plan, organizes his own team, including a scary uni-brow female ringer from some Soviet breakaway republic, to ensure his nefarious scheme doesn't fail, but Peter and his band of sorry, uncoordinated geeks, losers, and oddballs finds help in that of 7 time dodgeball all star Patches O'Houlihan (Torn), who signs on as their coach (utilizing some unusual techniques and also having some of the best lines)...will the boys prevail? Perhaps, but they're going to need some serious help, a little luck, and a whole lot of balls...
  
  This movie is worth watching if nothing else than to see Justin Long getting clobbered in the face with a wrench...oh, I know it was a rubber prop, but still, it looked darn realistic, and elicited a strange sense of satisfaction from myself. I've got nothing against Justin Long as a person, but his character Warren Parker Cheswick on the television series `Ed' was just so darn annoying. The story is pretty formulaic in terms of a rag tag bunch of misfits rising above their own inadequacies to achieve a common goal, facing impossible odds and adversity every step of the way, but the difference is the various interesting characters. I thought all the actors did really well, but Stiller kinda needs to find a new schtick as I feel like I've seen his psycho, over-the-top characterization a number of times, with small variances. I actually like him better when he's downplaying his roles in a self-effacing manner as in There's Something About Mary (1998) or Meet the Parents (2000)...yeah, his character did get a little nutso in those movies, but it was brief, and within context, and worked better in small doses. I've never been a huge fan of Vaughn, ever since he appeared in that remake of Psycho (1998), but he fit in nicely here as the sort of smart alecky leader and wasn't relied on to carry the film as he got a lot of help from a good supporting cast. The direction was good, as Thurber kept things moving along at a good pace, although the film did slow down a bit in the third act, despite all the scenes of intense competition in terms of teams battling to get into the finals. In one of the commentaries, Thurber stated he actually left the film for a week, as the studio didn't like his original ending, which is included as a special feature. I saw it, and thought it was better than the one used, and I can only imagine the reactions of those who attended pre-screening...oh well, I guess you really can't fight the power. At least we get to see Christine Taylor kiss another woman, and that's gotta be worth something. Some of my favorite scenes involved the training tactics used by Rip Torn's character ("If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball."), which involved the scene, as I mentioned earlier, of Justin Long's character's face having an unfriendly encounter with a tool. All in all this was a pretty silly movie, but highly entertaining, especially if you like to see guys hit in the crotch with large, rubber balls (I know I do).
  
  The widescreen anamorphic (2.35:1) picture on this DVD looks sharp, and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio comes through clearly. Special features include a commentary track with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughan, and director-writer Rawson Marshall Thurber, nine deleted/extended scenes and an alternate ending with optional commentary by writer/director Thurber, footage (with introduction by Thurber) of the Dodgeball Dancers (Yowsa!), some entertaining featurettes titled `Dodgeball Boot Camp: Training for Dodgeball', `The Anatomy of a Hit', `Justin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese', `Dodgeball: Go for the Gold', a blooper/gag reel, 2 theatrical trailers for the film, along with ones for Garden State (2004), and There's Something About Mary (1998), the screenplay on DVD-ROM, and a few, easy to find Easter eggs featuring Stiller in a fat suit poking fun at those who scour DVDs for hidden features.
  
  Cookieman108
  
  Also, keep you eyes peeled for a lot of great cameos, especially the coach of the German team...nice to see he's still getting work...
  
  
  

• What a comedy is supposed to be

  
  By AQ4DBGXE0OCM1 on 2004-09-05
  I'm a little annoyed with all of the negative reviews for this movie, considering it is the funniest movie I have seen for a while. People are forgetting what a comedy's purpose in life is; to make people laugh. I was sitting in a large movie theater, full of people, who of all things, were laughing.
  
  Ben Stiller plays a character, that yes, we may have seen before, but that's because he does it well. It works. Vince Vaughn plays your average joe, with an army full of hilarious sidekicks, what more do you need? How about some of the best cameo appearances I've seen. People need to stop thinking so much when they go to movies like this....just sit back and enjoy it! It's not going to change the world, but it made quite the impression on me!
  
  

• Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  
  By A14L97QUNT8KZE on 2004-09-12
  This movie was really funny and it was just a good time at the movies. They gave a lot of good lines to Ben Stiller and Rip Torn, they were pretty funny. The pirate guy was also hilarious. If you haven't seen this yet you need to cause its absolutly a great movie.Im definetly going to get it on DVD.
  
  

• "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

  
  By A3H4GJIEX6OQGG on 2004-10-03
  This movie was awesome! The stars, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, are hilarious. The plot is a little... lame (Vince Vaughn's gym is going to be bought by Ben Stiller's, unless he can get enough money to keep the gym; one of the members of the crappy gym suggests they go into a dodgeball tournament.) but it makes up in its hilariousness. Just the characters are funny; there's one who thinks he's a pirate, another wants to impress a girl by going on the cheerleading team. In one part, they get the wrong box of team uniforms, and... well I won't tell you'll have to see. Basically this whole movie is funny, so see it!
  
  

• Wait for the DVD! It's Zoolander part 2.

  
  By A3863M2049OPN3 on 2004-06-28
  Basically, you know the story. Vince Vaughn owns a ratty, falling down, looser membership gym accross the street from the Global-Gym owned by ben stiller as an over the top fitness trainer. Basically, ben "I've never turned down a movie role" stiller has two characters he can play. One is the along Came Polly, Meet The Parents, Duplex, middle aged zero-self confidence neurotic nerd, and the other is Derek Zoolander. This is who he played in Dodgeball. It was bascially zoolander all over again. I actually had a chance to see zoolander this weekend because TBS was playing it 37 times in a row, and after seeing Dodgeball, it's obvious that almost all the same things that were funny about dodgeball were the same exact jokes in zoolander. THANK GOD they got vince vaughn, I suppose Owen Wilson was busy doing something so they couldn't get him.
  The only thing REALLY good about this movie was rip torns character, the Mr. Miagi of dodgeball himself, who comes out of retirement to coach the underdog team. He was funny.

  The jokes were terrible. There weren't nearly enough scenes of the actual dodgeball matches. If you've seen the trailer for this movie, then you've seen probably half of the actual dodgeball game scenes already. They only played ONE GAME before they got in the finals. What a joke. Nearly 99% of the laughs come when somebody gets hit in the balls with a dodgeball, which happens like every scene. Except for when they're getting hit in the balls with a crescent wrench, but you'll have to see the movie to learn about that one.

  So, all in all, I really wish I would have waited for this to come out on DVD, and gone and seen Chronicles of Riddick instead.
  
  

• A film that refuses to dodge away from every sports cliché
  By A2NJO6YE954DBH on 2004-12-08
  In its defense, you have to admit that "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" embraces every cliché in the history of sports with a sense of joy. More importantly, first time writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber manages to do this without being heavy handed, which is no mean feat. He accomplishes this because since this 2004 comedy is trying to work in every cliché in the history of sports underdogs (and sports underdogs movies) it has to really move along to get them all into the film. There is no gratuitous milking of the movement in "Dodgeball," because like the sport itself, the movie sends another ball whizzing at you and it is heading for one of three places: your head, your stomach, or right for the obvious metaphor.
  
  The underdogs are the guys at Average Joe's Gym, where owner Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) takes a low-key approach to the health and physical fitness of his loyal and eccentric members. This is in stark contrast to the high intensity environment across the street at Globo Gym, where White Goodman (Ben Stiller) has made narcissism an art form. La Fleur is informed by attorney Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) that he has 30 days to come up with $50,000 or lose his gym to (wait for it) Goodman. It looks like all is lost until the gang at Average Joe's Gym discover that the American Dodgeball Association of America is having its national tournament and the winning teams gets (wait for it) $50,000.
  
  What makes this film work is that both the clichés and the absurdities (the national champs of dodgeball only get $50,000?) are taken in stride by the characters, which makes it easier for the audience to go along with it as well. Since the tournament is being covered by ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") that certainly makes it legitimate, and there are all those screaming fans and teams from around the world. While watching this movie there was both a point where my wife and I questioned the "reality" of the situation. For her it was when the young Patches O'Houlihan (Hank Azaria) explained the rules of the game and said there were only six players on a team. She took exception to that, based on personal experience no doubt, and I had to point out that he was talking about "professional" dodgeball. Then when they started playing games in the movie I took exception to the idea that a match consists of a single game, which allowed her to point out that making it two out of three or whatever would just make the movie longer. But once you start throwing red rubber balls at people it is hard to stop.
  
  The key element in "Dodgeball," strangely enough, is that of restraint. Vaughn's La Fleur is a remarkable calm and understated hero (an approach that carries over into the extras on the DVD) and even Stiller's intense portrayal of the villain is rather restrained. When these two stand toe to toe and exchange confusing insults it is even more fun then watching people get hit by dodgeballs and be sent flying. In that regard it is Justin Long as Justin who is the master of being hit and hit repeatedly to great comic effect, although when he is hit by wrenches thrown by the adult Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), you really have to wince, over and over again. That is why the best approach to the film is to be like the ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentary tag-team of Cotton McKnight (Gary Cole) and Pepper Brooks (Jason Bateman) and take every at face value and buy into it all the way, even if everybody knows the best strategy is to have a bunch of players all throw their balls at the same target at the same time.
  
  It is not surprising that as a result of this film dodgeball leagues have sprung up all around the country. After all, as we have learned from sports films in the past, if you show it, they will play...
  
  
• The Exciting World Of Dodgeball!
  By A33IZJVCKFKDPU on 2004-06-16
  A movie about a dodgeball team? This has got to be corney and run very short on jokes. In fact, I bet that the only funny parts of the movie are the ones that they show in the trailer. How funny can a movie about a bunch of guys (and a girl) playing dodgeball really be? The answer: absolutly hilarious.

  The movie is about a gym owner, Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) who is behind eight months in all of his payments. The owner of the bigger Global Gym, that is located right across the street from his "Average Joe" gym is Dwight Goodman (Ben Stiller). Goodman wants to buy out Peter's gym so that he can make a parking lot for his customers. But the patrons at Average Joe's don't want this to happen. So they decide to play in a dodgeball championship in order to raise $50,000 before the end of the month. Of course when Goodman finds this out he enters a team of his own into the tournament. With a little help from a crazy old man in a wheelchair Patches O'Houlihan, who happens to be the greatest dodgeball player of all time, and Christine Taylor, the Average Joe's Gym team goes to Las Vegas to play in the Dodgeball tournament.

  First of all, this charactrs in this movie are absolutely hilarious. Vince Vaughn does a good job as the hero. Ben Stiller plays basically the same character that he played in "Heavy Weights", but man, does he do it good. His character stole the show completely and Ben definately knows what he is doing with this character. A character that comes close to taking the spotlight from Stiller is Patches O'Houlihan, whom is played by Rip Torn. He is the coach of the Average Joe team and he always has some kind of negative, racist or sexually remark about everything. Many of the other side characters are also funny, the most important fact is that none of them are annoying (well, maybe the pirate).

  The movie itself was pretty good. The storyline was good enough the pass. The actual dodgeball scenes were done really well and they were funny. Good characters, not too long and lots of little inserts of the movies, like cameos, that constantly keep the movie funny. That was the most important part of this movie, the fact that the comedy really didn't die out in portions of the movie. It constantly stayed funny, which is hard to say for most comedy movies. Overall, definately check this movie out and you won't be disappointed.
  
  

• Funniest Movie In Years!
  By A1VIPUH954WALF on 2004-09-24
  My wife and I saw this on opening night and laughed ourselves silly the whole time. The comedy here takes all forms - from subtle, to slapstick, to sexual references. The plot is standard small guy vs. big guy, but is very rewarding nonetheless.
  
  Ben Stiller plays a fitness club owner who wants to buy out his neighbor's club. In response, Vince Vaughan's character is about to fold but gets together with some of his friends (one of whom is a pirate, who is absolutely hilarious the whole time) and enter a dodgeball competition. The rest is somewhat predictable but hilarious anyway. This movie is not about plot, it's about laughs, and luckily there are more than enough to last.
  
  If you liked Dumb & Dumber, Pet Detective, etc. then get this DVD. You'll be laughing for days.
  
  
• New spin on the oldest yarn
  By AL277B4AQCWBG on 2004-10-02
  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".
  
  
• Don't Dodge This Comedy
  By A2AA3UI3AJGG0Y on 2004-10-13
  The underdog story is a typical one, with which we are all familiar. But the genius of this film doesn't depend on a story we've never heard before. It rests on the interplay between characters and the sheer exuberant fun of watching this group of misfits -- because even the "cool" guys are misfits (Ben Stiller and crew) -- exist in the only way they know how.
  
  Some critics have called the movie low-brow because it does depend on physical comedy a great deal. However, there is still a very smart edge to the dialogue. Christine Taylor is sharply witty, especially in her dealings with Ben Stiller. Vince Vaughn embodies the underacheiving slacker
  
  This movie is funny. It's smart, but it doesn't take itself seriously. If you enjoyed Zoolander, it's a good bet you'll enjoy this film as well.
  
  
• A Guilty Pleasure
  By A192KEPM0HW6AC on 2004-09-15
  "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" is a comedy flick that recycles the same tired plot trod upon by so many other movies, that it's impossible to count them: "Good guys fall down on hard times / almost get taken over by the bigger, badder, richer guys down the street / enter a sporting contest to win enough money to keep the wolves at bay / win the sporting contest and turn the tables on the bad guys, hooray!"
  
  While that is absolutely true, it is also absolutely irrelevant!
  
  There are basically two types of formulaic movies. One type shrouds the formula with quirky gimmicks and artsy cinematography and dialogue to hide from the viewers the fact that the moviemakers have no ideas. These movies, most of them "serious," "message" pictures insult the intelligence of the audience, putting over on them that they are seeing something novel, controversial, and -- run as though from a plague upon hearing these words -- "cutting edge."
  
  The second type of formulaic picture embraces the formula overtly, and thus *compliments* the audience's intelligence. "Dodgeball" was clearly cast in the latter mold; Basically, the movie is a vehicle for a lot of comedic banter, off-color jokes and visual puns and fun action. Thank God someone out there is not making movies that preach to me, but just let me eat my popcorn in peace and laughter!
  
  The best thing about this movie is that it is totally politically incorrect. Come on, people, tell the truth: You like lesbian jokes and stereotyping Germans as Nazis and Japs as kamikaze samurais! Watching lame white rappers getting pummelled with red dodgeballs is exhiliarating! Admit it!
  
  I enjoyed the over the top performances from Ben Stiller and Rip Torn as well as Christine Taylor's sexy tomboyish portrayal, but Vince Vaughn really does hold this movie together. He's the perfect straight man for this comedy, and his facial expressions and vocal cadence remind me an awful lot of the great Joseph Cotten. It is also strangely ironic that Vaughn looks so much like Cotten's pal, the legendary director and actor Orson Welles. The only other movie I saw Vaughn in before was Gus Van Sant's horrible (definitely *not* horrifying) remake of "Psycho," embarrassingly miscast as Norman Bates. Well, Vaughn is certainly no victim of miscasting here, and I hope to see more of him. He really has a knack for comedy. And, as anyone will tell you, it's tougher to do comedy than drama. (Vaughn also gives a meaty cameo as rival broadcaster Wes Mantooth in the almost as funny "Anchorman," also out this summer).
  
  So, if you want to forget your worries, leave that pile of bills on the kitchen table and spend a couple hours rooting for a bunch of misfit "average Joes," a ticket to this snappy popcorn flick is your ticket.
  
  Incidentally, if you stay for the titles, you get to hear Ben Stiller's character, the once buff now obese GloboMegaGym owner "White Goodman," hector American movie audiences for not being into movies that are deep and that make viewers think. What a great send-up on the foreign and indy movie people who generally believe that "if you can't understand it, it must be deep."
  
  
• Best Comedy Of The Year
  By on 2004-10-04
  Dodgeball is the best comedy i have seen this year! I suppose it is really predictable but it is so funny! When does it come out on DVD!!?!?!?!!?!?!
  
  
• I don't know, maybe it's just me. I didn't laugh.
  By A2Q4HROGXDMNZ9 on 2005-06-02
  I love comedies that are cleverly made. 'Dodgeball' had all of the SNL ingredients and that's what made it old. The concept of a movie based on the game of dodgeball is brilliant, it just wasn't executed right. This could have been a marriage made in heaven with Ben Stiller and a 'Rocky'-type ending. But there's no emotion here and the jokes are stale 90's retro. How many times do you have to throw in a 'lesbian' joke or mock Asian people? I would be ashamed to even be associated with a movie that puts down people who are in the minority.
  
  Yes, the film did great at the boxoffice, but so what? The crowd went to see Ben Stiller and the concept of dodgeball. I think this film brought the American comedy to yet another low. Will someone please bring back the great American comedy?
  
  
• So Promising, But Too Crude For It's Own Good.
  By A96K1ZGW56S2I on 2004-08-26
  DODGEBALL is one of those movies that you read the back of the video box or DVD case and think, "This sounds pretty good. It sounds like it has a decent plot, yet it's a comedy and it's got Ben Stiller so it has to be fairly good." Then you get home and watch the movie and can't believe how terrible it is. That's how I felt about DODGEBALL. Except, I didn't watch it on video or DVD. I saw it in the theatres and it's only the second film in my life I considered walking out on (the other being THE ANIMAL).
  
  The set up of the movie is so promising. Average Joes, a small time gym, has their mortgage purchased by Global Gym. Guy in charge of Global Gym hates guy in charge of Average Joes. He thinks Average Joes is competing for his business and wants to turn Average Joes into a parking garage. The guys at Average Joes have to come up with $50,000 or the place is gone. That's where the dodgeball comes into play. The world dodgeball championships are being held in a few weeks in Las Vegas and the prize for the winning team is $50,000. But things go horribly wrong.
  
  There are a few funny lines in DODGEBALL. Ben Stiller is hilarious for most of the movie (basically reprising his role of Tony Serkis from HEAVYWEIGHTS but for an adult audience). And the movie has Lance Armstrong in one of the best movie cameos of all time.
  
  But there's a hitch. Instead of going the high road of comedy DODGEBALL plays to the lowest common denominator and because of that the movie drastically suffers. Foul language, crude jokes, every other sentence is filled with sexual innuendo. There's one scene where a group of young women are washing cars with their cleavage and there's another scene where Stiller's character uses a slice of pizza as Gold Bond. Not funny at all. So, though the movie promises to be hilarious, it turns out to be nothing more than a cruel, crude joke. So, don't waste your time. Instead, go watch RUDY a true underdog story.
  
  
• 2 parts Baseketball, 1 part Kingpin
  By A319SKSB556033 on 2004-09-11
  I have never seen a more unoriginal movie in my life. Every single joke, gag or pun in Dodgeball is blatantly and openly stolen from another movie. And this really, really bugs me. However I did laugh constantly and it was enjoyable.
  
  Though I must confess my hatred of Ben Stiller and his insistence to crank out 200 unfunny films a year (a schedule typically reserved for porn stars). Initially, I hated Vince Vaughn and liked Stiller. But now that's kind of flip-flopped. After Vaughn's funny performance in Old School I warmed to him but Stiller is under the impression that everything he does is funny. He certainly is not; anyone can act like a jerk.
  
  The plot is old hat. But Vaughn's ragtag group of losers and their determination to win the Dodgeball tournament is the real laugh machine. Though I was constantly thinking about how they worked much better in Baseketball or Kingpin.
  
  Asides from Vaughn and the so-not-funny anymore Stiller the cast is good. Rip Torn as Patches O'Houlihan is amusing (though he did the exact same role in Summer Rental), Stephen Root (that's Bill Dauterive for all you King of the Hill fans) was my fave and there's plenty of cameos from the likes of Hank Azaria, Jason Bateman, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff and Chuck Norris.
  
  Funny it may well be but expect practically every laugh to come with a heavy sense of Déjà vu. I wouldn't bother buying the DVD when it comes out. Just watch Baseketball and Kingpin side by side on 2 TVs and you'll end up watching this.
  
  And trust me, if ESPN 8-The Ocho, was a real channel, I'd be watching it every day.
  
  
• Not worthy of One Star. If the Academy gave out Oscars for
  By A3MWTXECMYURQS on 2004-12-16
  
  Worst movie, worst acting, and worst script, this would win hands down. When it comes to lame, witless and downright stupid movies, Ben Stiller is on quite a roll. If you are not a teenaged boy, I recommend staying away from this one.
  
  Dodgeball fancies itself as a parody of the typical sports movie, don't fall for it. The non-stop toilet humor is lame and predictable and it's a wonder that this movie can garner such rave reviews from so many people.
  
  In my humble opinion, if you have an IQ greater than 12, don't bother with Dodgeball. Personally, I'd sooner watch a marathon of Paulie Shore and Carrot Top movies before sitting thru Dodgeball again, and that my friends, is saying something.
  
  
  
• Poopy in a diaper bag
  By A9QXYFUJS1SQ8 on 2005-05-28
  This movie was horrible.It was like eating turd.Ben Stiller shouldn't inflate in this movie just makes him look weird and Vince Vaughn was tall compared to Ben Stiller.If you are gonna buy this movie just imagine eating poop that's how the movie is like.
  
  
• Boink!
  By A3N5XIM9R2OQH0 on 2004-07-03
  I'm always a sucker for some goofy, lowbrow humor, and I went to see "Dodgeball" expecting just that. Suffice to say, the movie more than delivered on its promise. Combining the sports satire of "BASEketball" with the slacker comedy of last year's sleeper hit "Old School," "Dodgeball" is a fast-paced, brilliantly cast howler of a movie for everyone who remembers the ordeal of junior-high gym class. The movie's message isn't exactly subtle, as it relentlessly needles our country's twin obsessions with sports and image in a contest that pits unassuming regular guys against musclebound jerks.

  Representing the side of the good is Vince Vaughn's likable everyman Peter LaFleur and and his band of misfits from Average Joe's Gym, where it's okay just to be yourself. Facing them is Ben Stiller's furiously narcissistic White Goodman and the walking super-egos of Globo-Gym, where self-hatred and insecurity rule and the motto is "We're Better Than You and We Know It." Those who played dodgeball in school probably remember how much degradation and humiliation was often involved, and the movie has a ball with this idea, never more so than with a hilariously anachronistic instructional video featuring Hank Azaria as dodgeball hero Patches O'Houlihan.

  With the $50,000 Peter needs to keep his gym alive hanging in the balance, the now wheelchair-bound patches makes a triumphant return to dodgeball as the team's coach. In a brilliant takeoff on movie training montages, Patches prepares Peter's ragtag team for competition by dispensing such wisdom as "aim low" and "if you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball." It all comes to a head in the American Dodgeball Association of America's championship in Las Vegas, with Peter's ragtag group facing White's imposing juggernaut as Gary Cole and Jason Bateman (two of our finest and most underappreciated actors) provide crackling commentary for the telecast on ESPN 8.

  While it does contain a few flat spots and excessive moments, there's still a lot to recommend "Dodgeball" to the average viewer. Its easygoing goofball humor, led by Stiller's furious mugging as White, is intelligent without straining the mind too hard. Sports fans like myself will almost surely get a kick out of the movie's knowing winks at the excesses of America's sporting culture, such as the very existence of an eighth ESPN channel. And the movie's casting is superb, as Vaughn, Stiller, Cole, and Bateman are joined by the ever-hot Christine Taylor, Stephen Root of "Office Space" fame, Rip Torn (as the older version of Patches O'Houlihan), and Lance Armstrong, whose cameo is easily among the movie's high-water marks. All in all, "Dodgeball" is a welcome break in a summer-movie season too often marked by stupid special-effects blockbusters.
  
  

• A very funny sports film! ****1/2
  By A379SAP75SPDHD on 2004-07-24
  Dodgeball is a film that gets by due to an amazingly funny performance by Ben Stille and the joy of seeing people get hit with rubber balls. The only funny sports film it can't beat is Caddyshack. Vince Vaughn does very well as the leader of the underdogs, and Rip Torn is a scene-stealer as their legendary coach. This film looked like fun to make, and it transferred on to the big screen. A great comedy!
  
  
• " 'L' is for LOVE!" "F*$#ing Chuck Norris."
  By A1RNLPUDOD5ZNG on 2004-09-11
  This ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's about two competing gyms: the buff guys and the average joes. The Average Joe's have a big problem between property investment and payments between themselves and the bank, That makes the buff guys want to buy their gym and make a big empire of their own. The Average Joe's don'give up so easy. They join a dodgeball competition to win enough money to pay off the bank. Problem: So does the other gym! through out the entir competition they get issues with each other and even a death occurs... but i won't get into that right now.
  Overall the movie ROCKS!!!!!!! It's sort of like a sequel to HEAVYWEIGHTS and ZOOLANDER. :-D
  
  
• Offensive and cheap - Not appropriate for any children
  By A1HS3TRECSROPV on 2004-12-23
  I was looking forward to seeing a funny but fairly stupid movie. It was funny from time to time. Most of the good stuff was in the occasionally funny slapstick. But the main character was an unabashed [...] consumer, the main lady turned out to be someone of very poor judgement and obvious immorality, the main antagonist tried multiple times to artifically expand his male anatomy and then ended up totally fat in the end with a set of very female [...] and doing a dirty dance with them.
  
  The theme of this movie was, "There are no consequences in life and the road to success is luck."
  
  I was the really stupid one for not turning off this movie early on. I kept hoping it would end up well but I was very disappointed. I hope no one else falls into wasting time and money watching or supporting this offensive and waste of a movie.
  
  
• The amount of 4 and 5 star reviews is insane.
  By A3OMPSEVL59ZDK on 2004-12-28
  This movie is not in the least bit funny. Ben Stiller is not funny anymore he needs to stop releasing films every two months. Vince Vaughn is NOT FUNNY. Everyone in this film is so satisfied with themselves and they must certainly be cracking up after the director yells cut, but they forgot to make the AUDIENCE laugh along with them. I am sick of hollywood giving us the same three people in every comedy. Harold and Kumar is the best place to go for some fresh faces in comedy and a much funnier and much better over all film experience. Dodgeball is comedy for those smokin the wacky tobacky, or people who just find every little damn thing hilarious. I wish I was so easily amused.
  
  
• Funniest Movie of the Year! Who would have thought?
  By A1TW9ZGRDQQZ2Y on 2004-06-25
  I just got back from seeing "Dodgeball" at the theater and it was way better than I expected. I thought it would be funny and was even surprised to see most critics giving a crude comedy like this good reviews, so I decided to go see it. I am usually not a huge Ben Stiller fan, because most of the time he plays the same sort of lame character (much like Adam Sandler), but not here my friends. Dwight Goodman is one of his best characters yet and he plays him so over the top you can't help but be amused. Vince Vaughn is good as the straight man, but the real star of the movie (other than Stiller) is Rip Torn as the old and crazy coach called Patches. He steals almost every scene he is in and hopefully there will be an unrated Dvd coming out which will add in even more of his raunchy lines. If you want to think, go elsewhere. If you want to have a fun time and laugh (...), catch "Dodgeball" now.
  
  
• Don't waste your time
  By A8869VE8622FV on 2004-11-07
  Okay. When I sat down to watch this movie i expected it to be packed with histerical jokes, funny Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn acting, etc. Much to my dismay, I did not find one hilarious thing in it. My family described it as one of the funniest movies they've ever seen, and that they had tears coming to their eyes while watching it. Trust me, this movie is not even as close to as funny as it's cracked up to be. I sort of chuckled at ONE SINGLE PART in the movie, that's it. Don't waste your time watching it, don't waste your money buying it either.
  
  
• A Pleasing Underdog Story...
  By AZ2K08MNJFR16 on 2004-11-26
  Okay, so it's not the most intelligent comedy but it is a comedy and a good one at that. Not every movie is supposed to make you think and laugh at the same time. Some movies are just supposed to be funny (especially if starring Ben Stiller). Dodgeball fulfilled this request and I'm so glad to see Vince Vaughn doing something. He's such a great comedian with his dry subtle wit and really plays off of Stiller's over-the-top-ness well. Was JErry Stiller in this movie? I don't remember but let's just assume that he was. Anyway, it was a great predictable movie and I thought the cameo with Lance Armstrong was the best scene ("What are you dying of?" "Right now. Shame mostly")
  
  This movie goes great with "Starksy and Hutch" in which the roles are switched and Vaughn plays the baddie and Stiller is back to his "Royal Tennebaums" neurotic control freak character.
  
  And yes, Ben Stiller has played this character he plays in "Dodgeball" before in a movie called "Heavyweights". I would also recommend watching that.
  
  
• Effecitve Formula Comedy that you can't help but enjoy!
  By AZ5250G2U795I on 2004-12-02
  OK...so Dodgeball relies on alot of formula tricks...ball to the groin, stupified underdogs...you name it. But this is a downright funny film that can hold it's own and make you laugh.
  
  Essentially, a group of slacking underdogs is going up against the big corporate machine...and the battlefield is a dodgeball court. But the quality casting (Stephen Root proves he can handle any script thrown at him and has an extremely memorable role in this film) and smart directing (The film NEVER takes itself too seriously or tries too hard for the laughs) make this a worthwhile flick.
  
  Terrific gift for most anyone.
  
  
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
  By A3S98L5B1SR9P1 on 2005-07-03
  If you are looking for a fun flick to waste some time, you've found it! This movie has some very funny and unforgettable moments. Sadly and strangely, I found myself laughing uncontrolably at the sight of the red balls pounding people. A cheap thrill that I would recommend if you want a good laugh.
  
  
• Funny stuff
  By AAX7MN9KCR2IY on 2007-09-16
  This is a movie I waited a few years to see only to rent it then see it was on tv the next day or so.....that is irony but it was a good late night flick and I had fun watching it. Not Vince Vaughns funniest stuff but decent and I always like Ben Stiller.....the theme was good as were Stiller's costumes. I also always like it when his wife Christine Taylor makes an appearance in his movies. Worth renting!!!!
  
  
• It Had Some Classic Moments
  By AILBDL6ATVDCJ on 2004-06-21
  Okay, this movie is definitely a film you will remember. What I liked most about this movie is it seems like three people wrote it, with all three of them trying to approach comedy from a different angle. This movie fluctuates from sophisticated comedy, slapstick comedy, and stoopid' comedy as much as an MTV music video (when they actually play videos) switches camera angles. Yet somehow this movie makes it work.

  Ben Stiller is great in his role as the self-centered owner of Globo Gym. This is one of those characters who becomes so obnoxious during the film, that you can't wait to see him fall; that means the director did a very good job.

  Vince Vaughn also pulled his job off as the owner of the smaller gym next to Globo Gym that Stiller's character can't wait to acquire. He is best when he has the quite and mellow guy role; this movie fit him like a glove.

  The beginning of this movie is a bit slow. But hang in there, it does pick up. By the end of the movie, I had laughed quite a bit. My only complaint is that they included a lot of sexual references and profanity that really wasn't important to the comedy or storyline. I still haven't figured out why producers and directors do this; maybe it is for the shock-value teenagers might be seeking...

  I gave it four stars only because it starts off a little slow and it would have been just as good without the raunchy stuff.

  See ya next review.
  (...)
  
  

• It got me by the balls.
  By A2HG5MY4YOY7N2 on 2004-06-22
  Everybody loves an underdog. Just recently the Detroit Pistons dethroned those big LA Lakers bullies against all odds. Not only did they dethroned four Hall-of-Famers and caused a rise in the Richter scale as fans jumped off the bandwagon, but they accomplished it with authority and without doubt. Also who can forget those Florida Marlins, who were underdogs throughout the post-season? They put Barry Bonds's bat to rest and altered the team's name to "Little Giants," they made Sammy Sosa wish he had put cork inside his bat and made Steven Bartman Chicago's "Public Enemy Number One," and finally, they put George Steinbrenner's money where his mouth is. Now comes an underdog story that surpasses them all in "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story."

  "Dodgeball" worked for me because there are a slew of funny characters that do not go over-the-top and we really get to understand their personality. Justin (Justin Long) was the funniest of the members being that nerdy kid who always becomes the target of oncoming objects. Another hilarious instance included a tragic accident during his cheerleading tryout or when he was the only one cleaning a car. Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) would have seemed like an absurd character on paper but on screen, he was effectively charming. Kate Veach, played by Stiller's real-life significant other Christine Taylor, who at first, works for the bank and hired by Gordon to check on La Fleur's finance, becomes part of the Average Joe team as the girl with a lethal arm.

  "Dodgeball" surprised me because I figured it would be a movie looking for cheap laughs. Instead, it is quite satiric as it pokes fun of sports channel with ESPN 8 "Las Ocho," where "if it's almost a sport, we have it here!" The commentary is wittingly stupid and effective and there tons of dodgeball action. Just watching this movie made me want to travel back in time where all we did in P.E. class was play dodgeball.
  -(...)
  
  

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