LogFAQs > #970627225

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Written & Directed By: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Rip Torn
Previous status: Last seen 2016ish

"Time to put your mouth where our balls are."

Like many comedies of the time, including Mean Girls, DodgeBall has aged mostly well with a few exceptions - namely a couple of Patches O'Hoolihan's comments about "queers" and "[r-words]" and the fact that Lance Armstrong was the one to give Peter the much-needed pep talk (since this was long before Armstrong was proven a fraud). This movie's influence was very real, in that ESPN 8: The Ocho became a real thing because this movie made it a thing. Which is pretty amazing, honestly.

Vince Vaughn does a great job at being decidedly generic as Pete LaFleur, which is as intended - he's a true Average Joe in more ways than one. The REAL stars, however, are Ben Stiller as White Goodman, and his wife (!!) Christine Taylor as Kate. Stiller's White Goodman is your typical narcissistic asshole, the one who's modeled his gym around his ego, one who thinks he's far manlier than he actually is when he's just an idiot. I mean... he got Kate fired from her job so he could be free to seduce her. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to him that she'd want to destroy him for that... by teaming up with Pete and Average Joe's. Kate's pretty complex for a character from a 90-minute movie. She's swift with rejecting both Pete and White when they make sexual advances on her. Pete actually learns to respect her boundaries when she sets them, but still offers her a back rub since that's what's in his power. He doesn't need to - she just accepts.

The movie's numerous cameo appearances - including Shatner, Lance Armstrong, Hasselhoff, Patton Oswalt, Curtis "Booger" Armstrong, LoriBeth from All That, and of course "Thank You, Chuck Norris" - make for a fantastic ride. The movie has a very clever sense of humor, with a lot of "ball" jokes (or Pete's dog giving him oral), clever commentary (Pepper Brooks is basically like a high John Madden with his Captain Obvious statements, but sans the actual passion... plus the aforementioned ESPN8), a girl scout getting DQed for doping with beaver tranquilizer (and her team immediately knowing it was her), having the school make asses of themselves by calling them the Donkeys, and a shitload of payoff. Like from the very start, we had Owen lamenting his inability to find a date (the payoff being Fran Stalinovskovich-Daviddivichski), Pete mentioning "sometimes you get two of them and hit the jackpot" (the payoff being Kate being bisexual and having an equally bisexual girlfriend), White mentioning his shareholders (payoff being Pete buying the controlling stake), Justin crushing on Amber (the cheerleader who actually recognizes that he's a nice guy who wants to care for her, the kind I so wish I had in my life... seeing as he marries her after he subs for her jackass soon-to-be-ex), and Gordon's anger (paid off by him actually getting angry at seeing his wife flirting with another guy). Really, Rawson Marshall Thurber was a master at crafting a narrative while making the movie actually funny. Each of the characters had a storyline, though Steve The Pirate had one much simpler than the rest and Dwight's was minimal.

One thing that's really good that might not be appreciated much is the discrepancies between Globo Gym and Average Joe's go so many layers deep. Sure, the advertisements that start and end the film show hugely different cultures, and that's obvious. You would MUCH rather work out with Average Joe's trainers who want you to be the best "you" you can be, as opposed to the Globo Gym assholes who think everyone should be a meathead. I've had both, personally. Sure, Globo Gym has better scenery (DAMN there were a lot of hot babes in this movie), but I wouldn't fit in there. The detail was also extended to the team logos - Globo Gym got a team name and a shiny, killer-looking logo that an actual sports team would use. Average Joe's was taken from some 1950s pamphlet cheaply. The uniform detail is also notable, though... not the "goth" uniforms they wore for the first match, which was hilarious (and shows just how hot Christine Taylor is).

A few gags kinda miss for me, like the lack of glass in the dodgeball arena makes no sense, and the "$100,000" stack is just not delivered in a way that makes me laugh at how inaccurate it is. Yes, Pete sells the deed and, after the pep talk, bets it all on Joe's so he could one-up Globo, but that was cut out. I am reading the original ending was Average Joe's losing to Globo and it just ending there, which doesn't work for me. The payoff was much better with White regaining all his weight (though that post-credits scene will be in my nightmares... yuck) and the Average Joe's ad leading to another "Spare me" from him. Really, the true ending is more complex and interesting, and is the culmination of so many more storylines.

Overall, this was a lot of fun. Everyone delivered and knew full well what this movie was supposed to be: Good, clean, ballsy fun. It's not about making a statement. It's just about the love of the game. 5/5

@Johnbobb you get another nomination! (Next movie tomorrow)