Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sport of Violence so obviously very FUNNY!, 2 Feb 2005
Dodgeball is silly. It is mad. It is mindless...
But it is also increadably entertaining and side-splittingly funny.
One of those movies where you can have an ultimately relaxing viewing.The underdogs are the guys at Average Joe's Gym, where owner Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) takes a low-key approach to the health and physical fitness of his loyal and eccentric members. This is in stark contrast to the high intensity environment across the street at Globo Gym, where White Goodman (Ben Stiller) has made narcissism an art form. La Fleur is informed by attorney Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) that he has 30 days to come up with $50,000 or lose his gym to (wait for it) Goodman.
It looks like all is lost until the gang at Average Joe's Gym discover that the American Dodgeball Association of America is having its national tournament and the winning teams gets (wait for it) $50,000. And the perfect partner for this movie would be the Anchorman!
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Really Didn't Want To Like This...But It Was Great., 29 May 2006
One of the dumbest feel-good movies of recent times...but isn't that it's very reason for existing?
Vince Vaughn stars as Peter LaFleur, an under-achiever with a lot of charisma. His gym is rundown and about to be taken over by White Goodman, played by Ben Stiller. Goodman is LaFleur's rival, he owns Globo Gym and is an egomaniacal fitness freak who places physical prowess above all else.
LaFleur desperately needs money to rescue his gym, Average Joe's, and so tries to win it by entering his team of useless gym members in a Dodgeball tournament. They find themselves squaring off against the Globo Gym team, in a winner-takes-all showdown.
It is very predictable, and puerile, of the sort that the Farrelly brothers have made their trademark. Yet somehow, it manages to rise above these limitations and offer plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
Rawson Marshall Thurber, director, finds increasingly absurd ways of putting his performers in harm's way, and the training sequences are some of those times. As you watch Average Joe's underdogs being coached by a wheelchair-bound former Dodgeball champion, you will be laughing hysterically. Their coach, Patches O'Houlihan is played by Rip Torn in his robust, dirty old man mode, and he has interesting ideas of teaching. Afterall, if they can dodge a spanner, or a car, surely they can dodge a ball easily.
Meanwhile, White's over-inflated ego produce all manner of cringe-worthy scenarios, whether it's trying to woo his legal advisor (his real-life wife Christine Taylor), or by reading a dictionary, 'To stay in mental shape too'. Ben Stiller knows the 'cringe factor' like the back of his hand.
The casting is definitely a large part of what makes the film work so well. Stiller and Vaughn are both very amusing, and obviously enjoying themselves. Vaughn uses his on-screen smooth talking coolness to deliver a life-long loser that the audience really get behind.
Stiller, just about manages to stay the right side of annoying, and his character is meant to be more than a little irritating anyway. How he managed to stop laughing long enough to film, when he is sporting a 'power-mullet', is unknown, but surely took a lot of skill!
A fair few cameos keep the movie lively, amongst which were Hank Azaria, David Hasselhoff, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner. They all add a little something to the film.
It is in no way complex, choosing a childlike level of laughter with a wanton disregard for taste. It has a lot of energy though, and even those determined not to enjoy it, will likely find themselves chuckling along anyway.
With a tagline, 'Grab life by the balls' what else were we really expecting?
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grabs you by the balls!!!, 14 Jan 2005
With the laughs in the cinema at the moment mainly coming from bad one liners in poor action films any person with some sense or simply an understanding of what's funny can see there is a gap in the Hollywood market for a shinning red ball shaped gem in the name of Dodgeball. Ben Stiller in arguably one of his best roles sends jokes at you as hard as the dodgeballs themselves and yes they hit you right in the ribs. Ben Stiller isn't alone on this war on bad comedy though, Vince Vaughn is by his side as a great straight man for Stiller especially in the great scene with multiple double negatives in the bar. The film does fit in a story amid the jokes, Ben Stiller plays White Goodman a fitness freak that owns a nearby gym part of a huge fitness franchise which boasts the phrase 'We're better than you, and we know it' he wants to take over Peter LaFleur's (Vince Vaughn) gym 'Average Joes' to stop this LaFleur and his band of less than average Joes must raise $50,000 to pay of various debts and save their much loved gym. Obviously to get this insane amount of money in such a small space of time, the group come up with the clear answer of entering a Las Vegas dogeball tournament which gives the champions of the event $50,000. This striking piece if comic genius really knows when to make you laugh and well when to make you laugh, and fantastic film that really teaches the viewer to "grab life by the ball".
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