Watching “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” is like watching “Best In Show,” “Family Guy” and the Pin Pals episode of “The Simpsons” back to back, although the sum is not nearly as good as the individual parts. Some moments are sublime. Others are shockingly lazy. Most of the material is horribly, and deliberately, inappropriate. There are also cameos galore. The end result is sometimes side splittingly funny, but overall wildly uneven.
Vince Vaughn stars as Peter La Fleur, a not too terribly ambitious man who runs a small gym called Average Joe’s that is on the verge of financial ruin. Across the street is GloboGym, a fascist mega-gym run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), a pompous dork with ridiculous hair who wants to take Average Joe’s and turn it into a parking structure. Between them is Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor), a lawyer assigned by their bank to organize the takeover for one and the foreclosure on the other. La Fleur needs $50,000 by the end of the month, or Average Joe’s is done for. One of his few regulars, an obscure sports fan named Gordon (Stephen Root), suggests they enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament, which pays the winner, wouldn’t you know it, $50,000. Goodman gets wind of their scheme and enters the tournament as well.
The setup is admittedly preposterous, but writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber still didn’t have to stoop to the depths that he does. After a hilarious sequence showing renowned dodgeball champion Patches O’Houlihan (Rip Torn) whipping the Average Joe’s crew into shape (with the help of wrenches and traffic), we’re subjected to the most perverse masturbation scene in the history of film, a bit that’s not just unfunny but seriously disturbing. The games themselves are lots of fun, with each team a group of silly stereotypes like the Lumberjacks and Skillz That Killz (hence the Pin Pals reference). The play-by-play commentary, provided by Gary Cole and a very funny Jason Bateman, nearly steals the movie.
The biggest flaw with “Dodgeball,” besides how desperately hard Thurber tries to test our limits (fat cheerleaders, dyke jokes, inflatable shorts), is Stiller’s Goodman character. He simply has too much screen time. Villains, as a rule, are not supposed to have more screen time than the hero, but Stiller is onscreen a good 10 minutes more than Vaughn. But never mind the rules of moviemaking, because this would be acceptable if Goodman were an engaging villain (think Jack Nicholson’s Joker), but a little of him goes a really long way. By the 60-minute mark, he’s worn out his welcome, and you’re left wondering why his oversized minions haven’t rebelled against him, given him a swirlie and hung him from a flagpole.
“Dodgeball” had the opportunity to be the Little Slapstick Movie That Could, ala “There’s Something About Mary.” But in their quest to offend, they forgot one simple rule: being offensive works best when you’re smart about it. Unlike the Farrelly Brothers, who love all their misfits, Thurber seems to view his subjects with contempt. As a result, we do, too.
2.5 / 5 Stars
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Rip Torn, Stephen Root, Justin Long, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Unrated Edition Blu-Ray Review:
Unlike the “Super Troopers” Blu-ray, the single-disc release of “Dodgeball” is an exact replica of the unrated DVD release. The audio commentary with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and writer/director Rawson Michael Thurber isn’t nearly as funny as you’d expect, while the deleted scenes fall short as well. Of the four production featurettes – including “Dodgeball Boot Camp,” “Anatomy of a Hit” and “Go for the Gold” – the best of the bunch is “Justin Long: A Study in Ham and Cheese,” a five-minute highlight reel of the actor’s best moments in the film. Rounding out the disc is a gag reel, as well as a collection of Easter eggs (ranging from outtakes to a hidden commentary track) that can be accessed by pressing “enter” on your remote every time Stiller’s character snaps his fingers. It’s not a terrible collection of bonus material, but it’s a bit disappointing that Fox hasn’t even attempted to include any new extras. A dodgeball game or a pop-up trivia track would have been a good start.
