Hilarious but not for everyone (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (DVD))

Member Name: nearlyyours1

Product:	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (DVD)
Date:	03/05/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really funny and great cast

Disadvantages: Not everyone will like it

I saw Dodgeball when it first came out in the cinema. I wasn't expecting much beforehand at the time, partly because I hadn't heard much about it, but by the end of the film, I was so happy I saw it!

The plot:
Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) runs a second rate gym that is populated by non-paying members, who, lets say, are not your everyday men. These bunch of oddballs include a man who thinks he's a pirate and a man with a Thai mail order bride who hates him. Peter's relaxed existence is made difficult by the fact that a large gym across the road, owned by White Goodman (Ben Stiller in a hilarious wig), aims to shut him down. When the Average Joe gym receives its final warning from the bank, they face a 30-day deadline to come up with $50,000 or lose the gym to White Goodman. After their initial ideas fail, they discover that the national dodgeball contest has a prize of that very amount, and so they play dodgeball!

The film has the same plot that all these sorts of sports movies have and you pretty much know where it is going from the very start but, to be honest, how many people have come here for the engaging story? No - me neither! The humour is very silly and it will not appeal to everyone but I found it pretty damn funny with the out-of-the-blue stuff being the funniest; if you find it funny to hear the line 'thank you Chuck Norris' said with sincerity then this will be the film for you. It isn't as consistent as I would have liked because it does have a couple of patches where there are more misses than hits but generally I had a good hatful of laughs and, when not laughing I still had a smile on my face.

Of course, like I said, this isn't for everybody and I'm sure many will see it as juvenile, and it does seem to have been aimed at the young male side of the market, though I am a girl and I love it. The downside of this is that the majority of the laughs are pretty basic and, as we are seeing too often recently, the old audience draw of girls kissing is wheeled out yet again, and it has no relevance to the storyline.

The casting also helps to a certain degree and does help a bit to cover the basic humour. Vaughn is cool and relaxed and, although you wouldn't call it 'acting' he is a likable lead. Stiller has a few dry moments but generally his 70's fitness freak steals every scene he is in. The support cast is more about off the wall characters than good writing or performances, but Long, Root, Moore, Tudyk and others are all OK. Cameos from Hasselhoff, Norris, Shatner and Lance Armstrong are all briefly amusing and, just like Best in Show, commentators Gary Cole and Jason Bateman do spot on spoofs of low-grade sports commentators and have some hilarious lines between them.

Overall this is a really great, feel good film, with a lot of laughs. The cast generally do well and the material is funny and energetic enough to do the job, though this isn't for everyone.

Summary: Great comedy that isn't for everyone