Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story film review

certificate_12A

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY

For those Americans not blessed with unnatural athletic prowess, the mention of dodgeball conjures up painful childhood memories of being pummeled by a large rubber ball. After seeing the film, those not familiar with the sport might be surprised that it was ever played in schoolyards, let alone is now in the midst of a revival. A sadistic spectacle that involves two teams hurling balls at one another with the sole purpose of hitting each other, dodgeball may not seem a socially upstanding activity, but it provides plenty of material for comedy.

With a resume that includes Zoolander, Meet The Parents and There's Something About Mary, Ben Stiller has become a brand name for dumb, cornball movies. His quality control is not as well honed as his comic skills, resulting in some very hit and miss results. Recent misses such as Envy and Duplex have outnumbered hits like Along Came Polly. Thanks in large part to co-star Vince Vaughn, the super silly Dodgeball belongs more in the latter category.

In collaboration with writer and first time director Rawson Marshall Thurber, Stiller has come up with another memorably outlandish character in the tightly wound egocentric, White Goodman whose streaked bouffant and handlebar moustache give him the look of an 1980s hairdresser. Obsessed with his appearance since winning a childhood battle with obesity, he has parlayed that obsession into a fitness empire called Globo Gym. At the other end of the ambition spectrum is the easygoing Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) who owns the rundown gym Average Joe's, referred to by Goodman as a "skidmark on the underpants of society."

Goodman's disdain for Average Joe's is secondary to his megalomaniacal tendencies. He manoeuvres to take it over, bringing in attorney Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) to instigate foreclosure proceedings, forcing LaFleur to come up with $50k in thirty days or lose the gym. When one of Joe's pitiful members suggests they enter a national dodgeball competition, with its $50k prizemoney, the game is on.

In addition to the farcical Goodman, Dodgeball boasts an array of similarly ludicrous characters including Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) and Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), a wheelchair bound ex-dodgeball legend with little grasp of manners. There's also the obligatory selection of cameos from the likes of William Shatner, David Hasselhoff and a hilarious scene involving Lance Armstrong.