Dodgeball (2004) Review

 

Dodgeball (2004)

Dodgeball follows Peter La Fleur, owner of the Average Joe’s Gym, who finds out he needs to come up with $50,000 in 30 days or his gym gets bought out by rival Globo-Gym. Lucky for him, a dodgeball tournament in Vegas is paying out $50k to the winner. They just gotta learn how to play dodgeball first. 

Coming at the height of both Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller’s box office dominance, Dodgeball falls right into that funky little genre of feel good sports movies that are also comedic riots. Society itself hasn’t been the same since Dodgeball released in 2004. You can’t name a dodgeball team without first considering Average Joe’s. You can’t teach dodgeball without Patches trademark phrase “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball”. And you most certainly can’t say “Ball me” without following it up with “Blazer”. Dodgeball defined the sport because quite frankly it is the lone, definitive movie about the whacky game of dodgeball, and that’s okay. It is comedic gold that rightfully pokes fun at just how goofy the game is and the myriad of oddballs that willingly take part in the sport.

 

As mentioned above too, it’s also quits the comeback story, with the name Average Joe’s making all the more impact because that’s what they are, a group a middle-aged dudes (and a lady), who’s only real reprieve is going to a gym that accepts them for who they are, unlike the roided out nuts over at Globo-Gym. It’s a significance that makes the movie not only hilarious, but certainly makes it easier to relate to as we get older. 

This sports classic also boasts a wonderfully comedic cast, featuring Gary Cole, Jason Bateman, Alan Tudyk, Stephen Root, Justin Long, Rip Torn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn. Stiller and Torn are hysterically golden in this, Torn for just his usual outrageous self, and Stiller for playing so outside of the box (and killing it at that). Vaughn is also perfect as Peter because you genuinely understand and believe him as the run of the mill, average guy. 

Dodgeball, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, is as formulaic as it gets when it comes to underdog sports stories (we’ve seen em a thousand times over) but that doesn’t take away from just how fun and campy this simple film about Dodgeball is and has been for the last 17 years. 

8/10