Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

?DodgeBall? was one of the few films my husband showed any interest in seeing at the flicks in recent times but circumstances prevented a trip to the flicks (a new addition to the family will do that to you) so I jumped at the chance to review this DVD and I am glad I did. ?DodgeBall? is certainly one of the few ?comedies? I have reviewed this year that actually made me laugh, lots!!

?DodgeBall? revolves around Peter La Fleur (Vaughn) who runs a gym called ?Average Joe?s? which is full of misfits and losers and also happens to be beside state of the art ?Globo Gym? run by White Goodman (Stiller) who is keen to get his hands on ?Average Joes? and turn it into a car park and will do just that if La Fleur can?t come up with $50,000 to pay off a business loan. Kate Veatch (Taylor aka Ben Stiller?s wife) is an attorney who works for the bank and is keeping an eye on the gym?s finances.

How will they ever come up with the money when La Fleur hasn?t even charged his client?s membership fees in over a year. The solution ? enter a dodgeball championship being held in Las Vegas where the winning team takes home a cheque worth, you guessed it, $50,000. The problem is of course, they haven?t even played the game before and White has assembled a formidable team himself, the ?Purple Cobras? to try to stop La Fleur?s quest.

Things start to look up when they manage to qualify for the championships by default and get the help of a true legend of the game Patches O?Houlihan (Torn). A disgruntled Kate, recently sacked by White Goodman so he can come on to her, has a mean throwing arm and joins La Fleur?s team as they head off to Las Vegas. The movie?s full title was called ?DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story? so you probably can guess the final outcome of the tournament but knowing that will take nothing away from your enjoyment of the film if sports comedies are a favourite genre of yours. This would have to be one of the best I have seen.

I think Ben Stiller is a sensational comedian and even though his White Goodman is way too over the top and a little too Zoolander for my liking (one of the few films I hated him in), his character has plenty of great one liners and his looks just shout out ?porn star? to me (not that I have seen many !!!) with his little handlebar moustache and perfectly preened blonde hair. Christine Taylor has appeared in other Ben Stiller films, nothing like providing the wife with a pay packet too, but really doesn?t bring a lot to the film and just looks too much like Marcia Brady still.

This is one of the first films I have seen Mr Vaughn in and to me he didn?t really stand out, most of the laughs in his scenes came from his array of misfits. He seemed to play more of the straight guy role and managed that job more effectively than his initial attempts at dodgeball. One of the misfits, Steve, thought he was a pirate and I couldn?t really see why they bothered with that whole angle. Rip Torn had many memorable one liners and there were also entertaining cameos by Chuck Norris, Lance Armstrong and David Hasselhoff.

The various dodgeball teams are good for a laugh and the matches were quite hilarious. There is nothing like seeing people being hit in the face with a large ball to make you laugh as long as it is not you on the receiving end. The sports commentators played by Jason Bateman and Gary Cole also provided many comedic moments and you can?t help but laugh when they have names like Cotton and Pepper. The scenes where Patches teaches the misfits dodgeball in a very unorthodox fashion and the expanding crotch of White are two of the more memorable moments

Overall, I loved this film. It is a ?no-brainer? movie that requires little thought and provides plenty of laughs and I can?t ask for much more than that. It was relatively short too which is always a bonus, I hate films that drag on when they could have finished much earlier. The script is not highly original and will not win any awards, it is just another story where the underdogs triumph against the odds and the acting isn?t brilliant either but the overall package is the important thing and that is sure to entertain many. This DVD will certainly get another viewing in my household when we are in need of a good laugh

DodgeBall is certainly not a film to dodge if you see it at your local video shop! If this is not a real sport then it should be. I could think of many people I?d like to throw balls at really really hard!!!

THE EXTRAS

As stated earlier, I had a preview copy and so there were no special features included for me to comment on. A little internet research told me that the following extras are available:
? Scene selection
? Four featurettes
? 10 deleted/extended scenes
? Alternative ending
? Blooper reel

CONCLUSION

DodgeBall is a film about a group of losers from ?Average Joe?s Gym? who decide to enter a dodgeball competition to win the $50,000 prize money in a bid to stop ?Globo Gym? from acquiring the premises and turning it into a car park. The fact that they have never played dodgeball at all doesn?t even enter their minds. This film is about underdogs rising to the top but the most important aspect about the film is that it is funny and that is so rare in films classified as comedies these days. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller play the lead roles but a lot of the laughs come from the ensemble cast and the dodgeball tournament itself. If you love sports comedies you will love this movie. It is one of the funniest films I have seen all year.