Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

Run Time: 100min
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller
DVD Release: 2004

Dodgeball — A True Underdog Story on Amazon

If you're in the mood for some mindless laughter, you can't go wrong with Dodgeball — A True Underdog Story. Vince Vaughn plays an inept fitness club owner facing the foreclosure of his gym. As it turns out, his only hope is to win a dodgeball competition, and use the prize money to pay off his debt. This device has been used in many other films, but rarely to such great effect. The film is full of physical comedy - mainly utilizing the time honored tradition of the slow motion groin shot - and effectively channels the butt slapping mentality of a high school gym class. In lesser hands and without great actors, this could have been a terrible film. Fortunately this is not the case, as director Rawson Marshall Thurber has created a briskly paced and truly amusing comedy. Ben Stiller is hilarious as the villainous owner of a rival gym, complete with a handlebar mustache and an inflatable codpiece. Be sure to watch the original ending, which is included on the DVD extras, along with a bunch of deleted scenes, four featurettes, and a gag reel. [Mathew Brady]