Dodgeball
June 22, 2004Grade: A
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is the tale of a big mega-gym (run by Ben Stiller) that tries to buy out it’s much smaller next-door rival Average Joe’s (run by Vince Vaughn). Threatened with foreclosure, the geeks who frequent Average Joe’s come up with the idea of competing in the National Dodgeball Tournament to pay off the debt. Stiller of course can’t allow that so he enlists his mega-steroid crew to do battle in the dodgeball arena.
This is so far the best movie I’ve seen this summer. The reason is that it’s such a simple little tale, told with tongue firmly in cheek. Stiller is so way over the top as the physically buff but mentally weak owner of Globo Gym trying to crush his competitor at every turn. And Vaughn is so perfect when he just looks askance at some of the antics from Stiller–Vince says so much just by his reactions.
There’s not a lot of what I’d call side-splitting jokes but this is one of those movies where you just smile and laugh thru the whole thing. It’s a nice quick 90 minutes of fun and brainless summer entertainment.
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