'Arr, Average Joe's be the only place for Steve!' (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (DVD))

Member Name: crazyminx

Product:	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (DVD)
Date:	11/06/09 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, surreal, Alan Tudyk is excellent

Disadvantages: Some of the humour is offensive

I should probably admit straight away that I am not a big fan of Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller. I don't actively dislike them, but their presence in a film always makes me look at it a little warily, as occasionally I find them annoying and Vaughn in particular lacks a little finesse in the acting department. I'm also not a huge fan of films that are made primarily to be dumb and to appeal to...well, dumb people! So Dodgeball has always been a film that I avoided, up until now. The reason for my change of heart was because I found out that Alan Tudyk, who I love as Wash in the sci-fi show Firefly and its movie counterpart Serenity, also starred in Dodgeball. Not only that, but he plays a man who thinks he's a pirate. How could I resist?

So, onto the film itself. Dodgeball is a movie with a very simple storyline. Peter (Vaughn) owns a small gym called Average Joe's. However the owner of the massive Globogym corporation, White (Stiller in a bizarre wig and moustache) has decided to buy Average Joe's and turn it into a parking lot for his own gym across the street. In order to stop him, Peter and his small group of loyal clients need to raise $50,000 in just 30 days. Of course, there is conveniently a dodgeball tournament occurring in Las Vegas, where the prize is handily $50,000. The group decide to learn to play, enlisting the help of crazy dodgeball veteran Patches (Rip Torn), but it looks unlikely that they will be able to master the sport in time. There's always a girl involved, of course, and this time it's a lawyer (Christine Taylor) who is negotiating the gym takeover and is the object of Peter and White's affections.

It's immediately obvious from this description of the plot that there are numerous situations ripe for comedy. The six hapless and unfit gym members trying to learn a vicious sport, the insane ex-player determined to instill his knowledge of the game into his trainees in a violent and unorthodox manner, the intense rivalry between Vaughn's relatively normal character and Stiller's caricature of a vain and money hungry gym executive...all these themes provide a lot of opportunity for amusement and the film delivers consistently, wringing every possible laugh out of the viewers.

Much of the comedy is pretty base and slapstick, but some of it is a little more witty and sophisticated. Globogym and its owner, for example, provide a funny if overplayed satire on today's image obsessed society. I found that throughout the film I was giggling or snickering quite often, and there was even the occasional belly laugh involved!

The acting is of a reasonable standard all round. Vaughn doesn't really do much aside from act like a normal bloke, so it's not exactly an Oscar winning performance, but he does his job well enough. Stiller is funny though sometimes goes a little more over the top than the role requires and in those moments I felt slightly uncomfortable. Taylor is functional but bland as the token cute girl, and relies on her looks to get her through the film. The best and most amusing actor is, not surprisingly, Alan Tudyk, who plays Steve the Pirate, one of the members of Peter's gym and dodgeball team. He was the character who got the most laughs out of me, partly because of Tudyk's excellent comic timing and partly because the character is just so surreal and brilliant.

So, would I recommend this film? Yes, it's an easy watch that kept my attention for its 88 minutes, and gave me quite a few laughs. The acting isn't outstanding and some of the humour borders on the offensive, but if you can overlook that then you'll enjoy it. And it's worth it just for Steve the Pirate.

Dodgeball is rated 15 and is available to buy on Amazon.co.uk for £3.98. The DVD contains a wealth of special features including four featurettes, an audio commentary with the two stars and the director, a blooper reel and deleted scenes, so it is decent value for money and should keep you entertained for a good long while.

Summary: Soon you'll be using pirate speak too!