“Dodgeball” Didn’t Dodge Disaster

Although Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was successful with both the box office and the critics, it is a predictable and uninteresting attempt at a farce. Since 1995 the comedy movies have scraped in over $44 billion, making it the most commercially successful of all genres. With nearly 2,000 movies made in the US alone, it should come as no surprise that at least a few hundred would be flops; Dodgeball is one of them. It boasts an all-star cast, including both Ben Stiller (Of Night At The Museum fame), and Vince Vaughn, among others. It is directed by Rawson Thurber, who also created other “classics” such as Manchild and Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. While the film garnered over $160 million worldwide, it must have been a surprise to anyone expecting a comedy.

The plot follows Peter Lafleur (Vince Vaughn), owner of the run-down Average Joe’s gym. The conflict of the movie comes from his rivalry with White Goodman (Ben Stiller), owner of the multi-million dollar Globo Gym across the street. When Peter ends up $50K in debt, his business, and thus livelihood, are at stake. With less than a month to raise the money, the only viable solution is to enter in an obscure dodgeball tournament located in Las Vegas. Along with 5 other friends (who represent the entirety of Average Joe’s customers), Lafleur heads to Vegas to compete. For no apparent reason, they are joined by a real estate lawyer named Kate (Christine Taylor). Despite having literally no experience playing, Average Joe’s manages to beat a world-class team in their very first round . Coincidentally, White Goodman’s Globo team has also entered the tournament. By a stroke of good luck, unrealized skill, or more likely just the writers’ laziness, the rival gyms end up facing off in the championship round. As expected, the underdog of this story wins the tournament, the $50,000 prize, and $5 million through betting on themselves. The unoriginal title of “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” is testament enough of the writer’s skills.

Dodgeball is indeed a “True underdog story”, if true also means stereotypical and unoriginal. Trite plot lines and poor acting make it a very predictable and unremarkable film to watch. The movie seems to rely on humor to make it bearable; Unfortunately, the comedy is stale and unamusing. Much of our protagonists’ roles are over-acted, painfully static, or both. The only truly amusing character is White Goodman, the innuendo-loving rival to Peter Lafleur. The supporting characters are all stereotypical, flat characters. Rather than improving the quality of the main characters and adding depth to the movie, they end up as little more than surfaces to bounce off of. For some reason, this seems to be a more protagonistic problem; Me’shell, White’s personal assistant, makes Stiller’s character that much more enjoyable. As a whole, the cast seemed to have little to no chemistry and did not work very well together.

Comedy is not only the most diverse of all film types, it also reaches the largest audience. Slapstick for young children, innuendo-ridden shows for adults, and schadenfreude for the sadists, to name a few kinds. This diversity of humor is most noticeable in movies that use comedy as a scalpel rather than a hammer; rather than throwing joke after joke, a movie can be lighthearted and still invoke emotions from the viewer. Almost every genre of film is open to its own comedic counterpart: rom-coms, horror/parody (Scary Movie), and action/adventure (Hot Fuzz) are all examples of the different types of comedic film. However, Dodgeball is closer to a boring sport movie that can’t decide if it wants to try out some humor or not. This difference is easily seen when compared to other sport/comedy films such as The Bad News Bears or The Sandlot.

How a film turns out is incredibly dependent on not just the actor, but the director’s competence (or lack thereof). A good example of this is The Watch; still starring both Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, but much more well done than Dodgeball. Not only do the supporting actors (Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade) add depth to the main characters, they are not dependent on them to operate. Although far from a masterpiece, the film cohesively uses its acting talent to make an enjoyable film --Something that can’t be said about Dodgeball.

However, both The Watch and Dodgeball lack something crucial to any good movie: a decent plot. To find an example of this look no further than Hot Fuzz, a buddy-cop/mystery/comedy film. While it is admittedly not as humorous as the previous two films, Hot Fuzz trades quantity of jokes for quality. British actors Simon Pegg (Shaun of The Dead) and Nick Frost are great examples of a comedic duo, each adding layers to the other's character. The plot is unpredictable, but not outlandishly so. Although the movie is rather long for this type of comedy (120 minutes), and the ending is drawn out, the movie keeps viewers guessing until the last minute. Dodgeball, on the other hand, left nothing to the imagination: the end outcome is implied in the title itself.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a half-formed idea that fails to deliver and falls flat trying to do so. (much like its characters). A shallow plot, unremarkable characters, and a lack of creativity make this movie a one-time watch. The only reason I would recommend viewing this movie would be to have an example of what not to do in a comedy. Rawson Thurber managed to take a handpicked selection of A-list actors and create a movie that would be lucky to get on a B-list.

Works Cited

*Bad News Bears. Dir. Michael Ritchie. Perf. Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow. Paramount Pictures, 1976.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber. Perf. Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor. 20th Century Fox, 2004. DVD.

Hot Fuzz. Dir. Edgar Wright. Perf. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost. Universal Pictures, 2007. DVD.

*Manchild. Dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber. Perf. Dyrell Barnette, DeLonn Donovan, Troy Field. Scenarios USA, 2008.

*Night at The Museum. Dir. Shawn Levy. Perf. Ben Stiller. 20th Century Fox, 2006.

*The Sandlot. Dir. David Evans. Perf. Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna. 20th Century Fox, 1993.

*Scary Movie. Dir. Keenan Wayans. Perf. Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams, Marlon Wayans. Dimension Films, 2000.

*Shaun of The Dead. Dir. Edgar Wright. Perf. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield. Universal Pictures, 2004.

*Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. Dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber. Perf. Lester Speight, Michael Sean McGuinness, Michael Cornacchia. Industry Entertainment, 2002.