In DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn team up once again (following STARSKY & HUTCH) for another comic romp. While hilariously satirizing modern-day gym... more
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opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mea...
opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mea...
opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughan) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: A dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughan and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughan, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon
opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughan) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: A dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughan and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughan, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon
opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughan) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: a dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughan and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughan, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon
opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in US box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughan) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: a dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughan and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughan, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon
Advantages: Comic scriptwriting at its silliest and finest! Stiller is funnier than ever before. Disadvantages: Plot as watertight as a sieve and character depth to match. A one man show.
...urine drinking (?!), one time dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn)- and before we know it we're off on a hilarious adventure of miniature and scantily believable proportions. "So what the hell is dodgeball anyway?" (I hear my fellow Europeans cry) *** "Dodgeball is a sport of violence, exclusion, and degradation." Patches O'Houlihan ***
Well, at least that cleared up some confusion. Being British I had no idea what dodgeball was all about ... ...Cobras' in the most dramatic Dodgeball final since the Helsinki final of 1919, and as commentator Cotton McKnight points out "I think we all remember how THAT turned out!" Indeed. Will the Average Joes underdogs defeat the muscle clad cranially diminished hulks, ('Blade, Laser and Blazer') of the Purple Cobras? Will White Goodman's team destroy their opponents and then their gym to make way for a parking lot, will Pete get the girl, will the effeminate ...
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Advantages: If I'm going to hell I'm well prepared - Strengthens case for legal Euthanasia Disadvantages: Patently and unashamedly obvious
...me, I knew exactly where Dodgeball was going. One of these misfits, inexplicably, propelled himself on-screen dressed as a pirate, and proceeded to pipe up with a number of seafaring clichés. Why? I have no idea, ‘me hearty’. All was not lost though - The Blazin’ Squad impersonators sitting behind us loved this guy. A moment of light relief presented itself, however, when Kate (Stillers’ impossibly pretty off-screen partner Christine Taylor) appears ... ...how they would tack the Dodgeball connection onto the side of these already creaking, balsa wood foundations. Guess what? Post Car-Wash, back at Joe’s, the downbeat posse stumbled across an ad in a magazine. A Dodgeball competition in Vegas! The prize? $50,000! Only waking up to find it was all a dream could have been more fittingly crap. From here on, things actually manage to get worse, in a comedic sense at least. The crew inevitably decide to ...
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Advantages: None - very disappointing Disadvantages: I bought the thing
...underdogs decide to enter the dodgeball tournament.
I can tell you are gripped, but just hang on.. .. theres a twist. Goodman's outfit has a crack dodgeball team that wants to win the tournament too! Not only that but he wants La Fleur's gymn, so the two strike a side bet. Its edge of the seat stuff but wait there's yet more. Apart from the businesses at stake, there is the highly original sub plot of the two men competing for the heart of the luscious ... ...great characters and genuine laughs. Dodgeball take a swipe at many a sporting movie, the problem is that the intended objects of derision are generally far superior to the film that mocks them.
Writer and Director Thurber litters his film with stereotypes and while (I hope) this is obviously a ploy to satirise other flicks, the upshot is that these characters are just plain dull. There really is very little skill in mocking the archetypal misfit ...
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Advantages: Brilliant humour, great cast, light-hearted and entertaining Disadvantages: A few gaps in the script, but nothing major
...they could enter the national Dodgeball championship tournament, where the first prize is - amazingly - fifty thousand dollars. Cue some rather amusing attempts to practice at this somewhat violent game and a slightly bizarre - not to mention lucky - drugs failure by one of their early competitors in the regional championships, and Average Joe's suddenly find themselves in the National Dodgeball tournament and on their way to winning.
They can't ... ...to be a surprisingly competent Dodgeball player and, as well as being attractive, turns out to be bisexual too, spoiling a bet between La Fleur and other team players.
The ultimate star of the film, however, has to be Patches O'Houlihan. Played by Rip Torn, Patches is a former major-league Dodgeball player, now confined to a wheelchair. As well as being the only guy who can get Average Joe's through to the final, he's also the one guy in the film ...
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Advantages: Endlessly quotable, great if you have a nasty sense of humour... Disadvantages: awful if you don't. No plot, no character development
...hope is a Las Vegas Dodgeball tournament. But with his team of misfits, he doesn’t seem to have a hope of winning…
So what is dodgeball? Essentially it is an evil pseudo-sport that American teenagers are forced to play in PE. It involves throwing football-sized rubber balls at the opposing team’s heads and bodies, knocking them out of the game or their senses. It proves that gym teachers really hate their students and that Americans will call anything ... ...you’ll wet yourself watching this. Dodgeball itself is a pointless sport that glories in the pain of its participants and Thurber plays it up, with dozens of shots of people being hit extremely hard in the face and crotch. Of the rest of the film, one third is pitch perfect character comedy from the likes of Ben Stiller and Rip Torn and the remaining third is a series of well-timed gags, most of which are very un-PC. Targets include gym fanatics, ...
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Actor(s): Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, Rip Torn, Justin Long, Stephen Root
Director(s): Rawson Marshall Thurber
Genre: Comedy
Classification: 15 years and over
Production Year: 2004
Running Time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Consumer Advice: Contains strong language and moderate sex references
Video Category: Feature Film
Country Of Origin: United States of America
Plot: Peter La Fleur is an underachiever who owns a run-down gym which has a clientele to be ashamed of. It comes as no surprise when White Goodman decides to take over the place and he sends in attorney Kate Veach to finalise the deal. Unfortunately for White, Peter's charms win Kate over and she helps him try to beat the odds and save 'Average Joes'.
Release details
DVD Region: Region 2 (Europe)
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; Deluxe Video Service - Fox
Release date: 31/01/2005
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: 25014 DVD
Barcode: 5039036019217
Composer: Theodore Shapiro
Producer: Ben Stiller
Languages
Main Language: English
Hearing Impaired Language: English
DVD Description
In DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn team up once again (following STARSKY & HUTCH) for another comic romp. While hilariously satirizing modern-day gym culture, the film also celebrates a sport that has previously been relegated to the elementary school playground. Peter La Fleur (Vaughn) owns the decrepit Average Joe's gym, which has been losing its clients ever since the glitzy Globo Gym opened up across the street. White Goodman (Stiller), Globo Gym's main spokesman, is a preposterously vain egomaniac on the cusp of taking over La Fleur's failing business. La Fleur learns from a beautiful attorney (Christine Taylor) that if he doesn't come up with $50,000 in 30 days, his career running a gym will be over. Potential salvation arrives in the form of a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament, but conquering a sport one hasn't played in several decades isn't such an easy feat. Fortunately for Peter, he finds a coach for his team: the hardheaded, ex-superstar Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn). As Peter and his ragtag team make their way to the championship in Las Vegas, they must contend with White, who has assembled a team of his very own. Rawson Marshall Thurber's debut feature is a highly assured work, which features hilarious cameos from Chuck Norris, Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, and William Shatner.
Technical information
Special Features: Feature Audio Commentary By Selected Cast Members, Deleted And Extended Scenes, Blooper Reel, Dodgeball Dancers, Behind The Scenes, Easter Eggs, Four Featurettes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review: The funniest comedy of the year, no correction, the decade (The Guardian, )
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Listed on Ciao since : 21/07/2004
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