Other than his part in "There's Something About Mary," I can't stand Ben Stiller's attempts at being a good actor. But as a completely ridiculous, egotistical, self-centered idiot in "Dodgeball," he really does a great job.
In "Dodgeball," Stiller plays the part of White Goodman, the feather-haired, buff owner of the multi-million dollar workout facility, Globo Gym. Goodman has his eye on the less-than-classy gym across the street, Average Joe's, which would make the ideal spot for a parking structure for Globo.
Goodman's infatuation with working out and making other people feel bad for their imperfections is explained by a picture this appeared on the screen showing Goodman as an excessively obese man eating gallons of ice cream.
After six years of changing his lifestyle, Goodman has become the kind of guy who "pleasures" himself with pizza and has an inflatable jock strap which he uses to "impress" lawyer Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor, Stiller's wife in real life).
His attempts only freak her out and she begins getting friendly with the owner of Average Joe's, Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn). Surprisingly, Veatch turns out to be an extraordinary dodgeball player.
Gordon (Stephen Root, also known as Milton from "Office Space") is the one with the idea of how to save Average Joe's. In his magazine, "Obscure Sports Quarterly," he reads about a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas with a first prize of $50,000 - exactly how much money La Fleur needs to pay off his debts to the bank.
The tournament begins with the Average Joe's team being forced to wear harnesses and leather bikinis because their team uniforms had been mixed up with those of an elderly S&M club.
Actually, "Dodgeball" could have been a little bit longer. The scenes of the actual dodgeball tournaments were too fast and it would have been funnier to see even more butt and groin kicking. The teams faced by Average Joe's include The Blitzkriegs, a German team trying to the win the championship in the name of David Hasselhoff. All of these battles could have been given a little bit more time on the screen due to their undeniable hilarity.
I was a little skeptical before seeing "Dodgeball" just because I had a feeling that the film's commercials contained the funniest jokes in the movie.
I was wrong, thankfully.
The funniest parts of the movie weren't in the ads and they all included Rip Torn's portrayal of Patches O'Houlihan, a former dodgeball world champion from the good ol' days, now confined to a wheel chair. Vulgar, perverted and just basically a dirty old man, O'Houlihan does what it takes to get the "Average Joe's" team going.
O'Houlihan takes his chances coaching the team, using wrenches to teach them how to dodge and calling them names such as "Crotch Stain." He's also convinced Veatch is a lesbian because she's so good at dodgeball.
Another surprisingly good performance came from Chris Williams, an Average Joe's patron and team member with attitude whose sarcasm adds to the movie's overall humor factor.
Youthful actor Justin Long plays Justin, a twerpy and insecure high schooler with a crush on a cheerleader and some major emotional scarring. The scarring, as the television trailers have shown briefly, involves Justin's long-time dream of being a cheerleader, literally crushed when he is forced to have the very large Martha Johnstone (Lori Beth Denberg) as his partner.
The only funnier thing was probably when Average Joe's advanced from the regional to national championship after being beat by a girl scout troop whose star player was pumped up on steroids.
A guest appearance by kickboxer/actor Chuck Norris as a councilmember of the dodgeball association also adds to the film's already witty, sarcastic and sometimes downright silly humor.
Even when the film took a turn on the dramatic side when La Fleur has a heart-to-heart talk with athlete Lance Armstrong, the humor is still there.
Great acting from Taylor, Vaughn and Torn propel the film to pure comedy status.
"Dodgeball" is a surprisingly good comedy, full of gross and vulgar humor. The movie never takes itself seriously and the actors seem like they're just having loads of fun.
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