Friday, June 25, 2004
Movies: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
In “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” we have a story every bit as dumb as that of “Around the World in 80 Days,” and yet I enjoyed it much more.
It all has to do with mood. “Around” tries so hard to thrill us with Jackie Chan fight scenes, astound us with foreign places, entertain us with monkey-like antics, and inspire wonder with its impossibly soaring musical score, that the whole thing falls apart. Those of us who have built-up immune systems to this sort of thing, from watching dozens of these love children of “Independence Day” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” aren’t impressed with the old tricks.
“Dodgeball,” on the other hand, revels in its dumbness. It doesn’t even try to pretend to take itself seriously. Almost every character in the movie is a type or unbalanced in some way, from Ben Stiller’s over-the-top egotistical gym owner to the guy who thinks he’s a pirate. The only guy who could be said to be normal is our hero, the straight man, who reacts to everything with an expression that says, “okay, these people have serious problems.”
Peter Le Fleur (Vince Vaughn) runs a small, unprofitable gym. A high school rival, White Goodman (Ben Stiller) owns a highly profitable gym and takes great pleasure in lording it over Pete. In a lesser film Pete would be consumed with rage, here Pete just gives a bemused look and lets White stew, which probably infuriates him even more. Caught between White’s persecution and Pete’s indifference is mortgage worker Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor), who White seems to think is a flunky and Pete hopes will be a girlfriend.
Pete is unskilled in financial matters, and his gym is in foreclosure on its second mortgage. Yes, the movie has a contrived mortgage plot which drives its heroes on a quest for success on the Dodgeball court, a sport that, thankfully, is treated by the movie with exactly the respect it deserves, relegated to airing on ESPN 8. Pete and his slacker gym buddies try to win the big Dodgeball tournament to earn the money to get the gym out of hock, and there you have the plot. It’s not a winner, but that doesn’t matter here.
This is one of those movies that lives and dies by its jokes, and while there are a few clunkers, overall they work. The standout performer is Ben Stiller, whose rich egotistical gym owner would be evil if he had the capacity for it. It’s a shame that so many of his best lines are used in the commercials for the movie, as his character really is the best thing here.
There’s a good mix of over-the-top groaners and true wit here, and it helps save Dodgeball from being another brain-dead summer comedy. Note in the opening scene how White Goodman’s gym commercial defeats itself with subtle payoffs instead of hitting the viewer over the head with them. The movie knows you’re allowed to have stupid characters, but that pure stupidity, in itself, isn’t funny. That, in a nutshell, is why Dodgeball is worth watching.
In “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” we have a story every bit as dumb as that of “Around the World in 80 Days,” and yet I enjoyed it much more.
It all has to do with mood. “Around” tries so hard to thrill us with Jackie Chan fight scenes, astound us with foreign places, entertain us with monkey-like antics, and inspire wonder with its impossibly soaring musical score, that the whole thing falls apart. Those of us who have built-up immune systems to this sort of thing, from watching dozens of these love children of “Independence Day” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” aren’t impressed with the old tricks.
“Dodgeball,” on the other hand, revels in its dumbness. It doesn’t even try to pretend to take itself seriously. Almost every character in the movie is a type or unbalanced in some way, from Ben Stiller’s over-the-top egotistical gym owner to the guy who thinks he’s a pirate. The only guy who could be said to be normal is our hero, the straight man, who reacts to everything with an expression that says, “okay, these people have serious problems.”
Peter Le Fleur (Vince Vaughn) runs a small, unprofitable gym. A high school rival, White Goodman (Ben Stiller) owns a highly profitable gym and takes great pleasure in lording it over Pete. In a lesser film Pete would be consumed with rage, here Pete just gives a bemused look and lets White stew, which probably infuriates him even more. Caught between White’s persecution and Pete’s indifference is mortgage worker Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor), who White seems to think is a flunky and Pete hopes will be a girlfriend.
Pete is unskilled in financial matters, and his gym is in foreclosure on its second mortgage. Yes, the movie has a contrived mortgage plot which drives its heroes on a quest for success on the Dodgeball court, a sport that, thankfully, is treated by the movie with exactly the respect it deserves, relegated to airing on ESPN 8. Pete and his slacker gym buddies try to win the big Dodgeball tournament to earn the money to get the gym out of hock, and there you have the plot. It’s not a winner, but that doesn’t matter here.
This is one of those movies that lives and dies by its jokes, and while there are a few clunkers, overall they work. The standout performer is Ben Stiller, whose rich egotistical gym owner would be evil if he had the capacity for it. It’s a shame that so many of his best lines are used in the commercials for the movie, as his character really is the best thing here.
There’s a good mix of over-the-top groaners and true wit here, and it helps save Dodgeball from being another brain-dead summer comedy. Note in the opening scene how White Goodman’s gym commercial defeats itself with subtle payoffs instead of hitting the viewer over the head with them. The movie knows you’re allowed to have stupid characters, but that pure stupidity, in itself, isn’t funny. That, in a nutshell, is why Dodgeball is worth watching.
