Review: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (***)

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ***


DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, even if it isn't in the same league as Ben
Stiller's best pictures, is silly, stupid and fun. Blending Stiller's model
posturing from ZOOLANDER with his macho moves from STARSKY AND HUTCH,
DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY tells the story of a ragtag BAD NEWS
BEARS-like dodgeball team named Average Joe's that comes out of nowhere to
play in the world championships in Las Vegas. With hyperbolic glee, the
ESPN8 announcer reminds us that this championship is "bigger than the World
Cup, the World Series and World War II combined!"



Average Joe's team members hail from a low-rent gym of the same name owned
by Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn). The gym has modest mottoes on the walls,
such as "Failure IS an option." Its competition is a steel-and-glass palace
of sweat known as Globo Gym, which is owned by White Goodman (Stiller).
White is launching something of a hostile takeover by buying up Peter's
bankrupt establishment. But, if Peter and his awful team could win the
championship, they could get the money to save their gym. As Kate Veatch,
Christine Taylor plays the bank's attorney who rejects White's literally
sickening sexual advances and goes on to be a star player on Peter's team.
Of course, the team to beat will be the one that White puts together, called
the Purple Cobras. Peter has all nerds while White has almost all gigantic
jocks. It is a real David and Goliath struggle.



But before Average Joe's can go to the nationals, they first have to defeat
a surprisingly tough team of preteens who belong to a Brownie-like group
called Troop 417. A legendary dodgeball coach, Patches O'Houlihan (Rip
Torn), comes out of nowhere to show our guys how to win. His unusual
training techniques include throwing big wrenches at the players where they
will hurt the most. The movie's laughs come mainly from the "oh, that's got
to hurt" brand of physical comedy.



The dialog is pretty good too. DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY is
definitely the only film that contains the insult, "your gym is a skid mark
on the underpants of society."



DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY runs 1:36. It is rated PG-13 for "rude and
sexual humor, and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and
up.



My son Jeffrey, age 15, gave the movie ***, saying that he thought the movie
was hilarious and that he really liked the dodgeball games. His friend
Nicholas, also 15, gave it *** 1/2, he said that he especially liked the
crazy names of all the teams. Their favorite character was the pirate.
(Yes, one of the characters is a pirate, or so he thinks.)



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, June 18, 2004. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.



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