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| 6/21/2004 |
| Dodge Ball: A True Underdog Story |
Aims and Hits Low
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A Movie Review
by Wes Bennett
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In the tradition of such sport-comedies such as “Major League”, “KingPin” and “Happy Gilmore,” comes “Dodge Ball: A true Underdog Story.” But unlike these aforementioned films, “DodgeBall” is not a classic film. Despite great action scenes, a memorable performance from Ben Stiller and a fair amount of laughs, the story feels very simplistic and unimaginative. Still, this is without a doubt the greatest film ever made about the sport of Dodgeball and for the most part a crowd pleaser.
Vince Vaughn stars as Pete La Fleur, the owner of The Average Joe's Gym. The only way he can save his run down fitness facility, is to raise $50,000 in a month. So Pete and his out-of-shape, ragtag crew enter a dodgeball tournament in Vegas.
White Goodman (Ben Stiller), nemesis of La Fleur and owner of the Globo fitness center decides to enlist his own team of menacing personal trainers to prevent the Average Joes from winning the money.
The Average Joe squad is helped out by legendary dodgeball star of the past: Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn). Despite being confined to a motorized wheelchair, he has lost none of his competitive intensity. He immediately puts them through a brutal training regimen that involves dodging cars and wrenches.
Ben Stiller, wearing a feathered wig, fake goatee, with chest and arms tight and tanned, relentlessly overacts as White Goodman. His manic performance is sometimes funny but consistently bizarre.
A steady diet of powders and chemicals has made him insane. In one scene I got the impression that Stiller was about to start masturbating by putting a piece of pizza down his pants. Others gags include shocking his nipples to combat the temptation of a donut and using an inflatable crotch in his training pants. Most memorable is a running joke in which he's consistently tripped up in conversation.
For all the clever nuances that Stiller brings, he's stuck in a one-note role and arguably exhausts his welcome before the finish. But Stiller does his best with brilliant small touches such as cramming a hot dog down his throat while walking away from the tournament.
The movie also fails to capitalize on the ascorbic comic talent of Vaughn. Forced to play the nice, unassuming regular guy, Vaughn can not rekindle the comic flames that he did so well as the fast talking hustler that he nailed in both “Swingers”, “Made” and even “Old School.” Vaughn is truly at his best when playing parts that allow him to be kind of a prick.
The film includes all the clichés of a sports movie such as the training scenes and the pre-climax speech. The approach works because many sports dramas are borderline parodies with moments of unintentional comedy. All the filmmakers of “Dodgeball” had to do was to follow the plot-by-numbers approach while incorporating some comedic material.
The film does score satiric hits in its send-up of the sports media, which includes Globo Gym's infomercial and ESPN 8's (“The Ocho”) graphics and the ridiculous broadcaster/color commentators played by Gary Cole and Jason Bateman. Cameos include William Shatner, David Hasselhoff, Lance Armstrong and even Chuck Norris.
“Dodgeball” delivers the humor by relentlessly lowering the bar. Even though the jokes are pretty dumb, many are just too funny to avoid laughing. It is far, far away from the brand of comedy like “Office Space” or “The Big Lebowski” that have great dialogue, clever premises and are above all very smart and witty.
It’s worth mentioning that the other week’s release, “The Terminal” scored many laughs as well as provoking a score of emotions and depth, proving that good comedy doesn’t have to be this dumb. But I’ll admit, a man getting hit in the testicles gets me almost every time.
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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