Some moviegoers may find the foundation upon which this Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn vehicle is built to be too rudimentary — grownups playing a silly childhood game — but then again, anyone who shows up expecting highbrow humor out of “Dodgeball” deserves to get whacked in the noggin by a red rubber ball. Film neophyte Rawson Marshall Thurber (he created the “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” spots) wrote and directed this comedy about a group of 98-pound weaklings who have the dodgeballs to take on the big bullies. It’s inane, implausible and — oh yeah — at times very funny.
“Dodgeball” certainly doesn’t compare to Stiller or Vaughn’s best stuff (“There’s Something About Mary” and “Swingers,” respectively), but there’s no shame in this game either. Stiller effectively plays his egomaniacal, self-loathing fitness guru way over the top, and Vaughn is, as usual, cooler than the other side of the pillow as the good-natured protagonist. The main players get assists from Rip Torn, Christine Taylor (aka Mrs. Ben Stiller) and Stephen Root (“Office Space”), all of whom deliver yuk-yuks in key supporting roles.
Peter LaFleur (Vaughn) is the insouciant proprietor and resident best bud to the proletarian patrons of a rundown gym called “Average Joe’s.” Peter’s business is doomed, thanks to a neighboring iron-pumping palace, Globo Gym, owned by White Goodman (Stiller). The tanned and toned White’s got it in for Peter, and is hellbent on bulldozing Average Joe’s. After a sympathetic attorney from the bank (Taylor) informs eventual love interest Peter that 50 grand is needed to save his beloved sweatshop, he and dodgeball legend Patches O’Houlihan (Torn) lead a ragtag team of misfits to Vegas in the hopes of winning the cash at a dodgeball tournament. To do so, they’ll need to overcome White’s squad of roid-raging ringers and their own foibles — one guy thinks he’s a pirate, another is enervatively docile. Their quest ultimately leads us to a profound truth: Seeing people get nailed in the nuts by balls is a real hoot. (Rated PG-13 for rude and sexual humor, and language. Running time: 91 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 18, 2004. Read the original PDF.