SummaryA group of friends from Average Joe's agrees to compete in a high-stakes dodgeball competition in Las Vegas in an attempt to save their gym from takeover by the national chain Globo Gym.
SummaryA group of friends from Average Joe's agrees to compete in a high-stakes dodgeball competition in Las Vegas in an attempt to save their gym from takeover by the national chain Globo Gym.
Ben Stiller is like a guy on the 1919 White Sox. He's rigged to lose. His comedy is the stuff of failure, and sometimes it's pleasurable watching him flit around in funny get-ups, only to have a pretty costar put him down.
First of all, it's a crazy comedy film, keep that in mind, it never pretended to be anything else. Got it? Good. For what it is, it's glorious! For its class, it's one of the best. Usually crazy comedies are poorly written, don't bother with plot and are generally offensive to every one of the senses. This is one is a crafty, lovingly made film with the right amounts of quips and jokes, even the gratuitous slutty girls. Every casting choice was perfect, even the insufferable Me'shell. Rewatched this probably 10 times by now with 10 more coming in the near future.
Writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber (the short "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker") keeps the jokes coming fast and furious, and while none of them are deep, many find their mark.
Mostly, Dodgeball just feels off--never consistently funny, but also never dire. It's as if Thurber resigned himself to making a dumb, formula-bound movie with a dusting of smart gags instead of a smart movie in dumb-movie clothes.
Much of Dodgeball feels competent but lazy. The nerds are barely distinguishable, except for one who thinks he's a pirate and says arghh a lot to no humorous effect.
For a while, Vaughn's slobbo guy charm and Stiller's creepy Flash Gordon aesthetic are amusing, but it isn't long before Vaughn looks like a Bill Murray disciple trapped among circus freaks, and Stiller runs out of weirdo tricks.
'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story' is a movie that made me laugh hysterically with its slapstick, sometimes crude and strange out-of-this-world humor. It's a movie that filled me with a lot of positive feelings and a comedy that I strongly recommend.
White Goodman (Ben Stiller) is an egotistical gym owner, he owns and runs a successful gymnasium called "Globo Gym" which is where business is going pretty good thanks to its high quality machinery and facilities. Over on the other side lies "Average Joe's" Gymnasium, owned by Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), and is more of a run-down gym and only has few members. When Peter meets Katie Veach (Christine Taylor) and she tells him that all his bills are overdue, he then finds out that White of Globo Gym wants to buy Average Joe's leaving him in a difficult financial situation.
Peter, along with his crew including; Justin (Justin Long), Gordon (Stephen Root), Steve (Alan Tudyk), Owen (Joel Moore) and Dwight (Chris Williams) must find different ways to make money in order to keep the gym. They then hear about a Dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas where there is a cash prize that they can use to keep the gym and not let White get anywhere near it.
When it seems that they are not able to get the gym and their Dodgeball skills are not quite up to standards, Peter then bumps into Dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn) and he teaches them, in a series of funny methods, how to play professional Dodgeball and win the Las Vegas tournament.
This is a very fast-paced and wacky comedy, Ben Stiller is great at playing the annoying, egotistical and sometimes elaborate White Goodman. All of the comedy is also perfectly timed to know when it's the right time to be funny. The physical humor including seeing a number of men getting hit by Dodgeballs never gets tiring.
To put it short, 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story' is worth your time.
It has it's fair share of laughs and celebrity appearances, this heartwarming story about a battle that is actually (kind of) going on right now: Corporate vs Small business. The corporate gym wants to take over the local gym by stopping them from winning the $50,000 dollars ,needed to repay loans on the business, in a dodgeball tourney. This funny, and relatable movie will have you feeling every feeling man has ever known.
The Underdogs grab life by the balls.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is an extremely idiotic, overdone, but yet miraculously hilarious story. The actors save the scripts nutty hijinks from being a complete train wreck by selling what their given.
Just another sports comedy ...
This film is a slapstick-like comedy that brings us a little-known "sport": dodgeball, a game that, for us in Europe, is more connoted with childhood and school than with the world of professional and federated sports. Here in Portugal it is called "Queimada" or "Game of the Forest".
The script is based on the boundless rivalry between Peter La Fleur, the owner of a small gym, and White Goodman, the owner **** corporation, who opens yet another establishment, right outside the door of La Fleur's gym. Things get worse when La Fleur is truly in danger of losing its small gym to its direct competitor. To pay what they owe, they decide to participate in the National Dodgeball Championship, where Goodman is already registered.
This movie is nothing new or original. The exposed plot is similar in everything to dozens of other sports-themed films, where the good ones try to beat the bad guys within four lines, while the bad guys try to use all means, including cheating, to win. It's a markedly humorous movie, with jokes all the time ... some of which are really funny while others not so much. It is a style of humor that does not appeal to everyone, but it will appeal to those who already like this genre.
Ben Stiller is an actor with a lot of experience in this type of comedy, where he fits perfectly, and he is responsible for most of the jokes, with a strongly cartoon character and with touches of social criticism. I liked the work of the actor, he really steals attention for himself and not always (almost never) had anyone to shoulder with him. Vince Vaughn was up to the character and gave him a touch of honesty and sincerity, but is too serious to make him laugh. Christine Taylor is the girl in the movie, but it doesn't do much more than be a presumed future romantic pair of Vaughn's character. The rest of the cast gives the essential support and is funny when it has to be. In addition, we have small cameos from Lance Armstrong (it was not yet known how he truly won the Tour), Chuck Norris, David Hasselhoff and other well-known names.
This movie is funny ... it doesn't make us laugh until it hurts, because many of the jokes used are not particularly elegant, but entertain the weather quite well and do not disappoint us.