DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

6/10

Starring

Vince Vaughn

Ben Stiller

Christine Taylor

Gary Cole

Rip Torn

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

The 80s are filled with many goofyball movies which I will advise if you have the time you should go and see for a good laugh. Then came this movie, a movie that by the name you will expect it to be a dud.

Who names a movie Dodgeball?

A game which is not familiar to people who don’t leave in USA (I do not). This was the main reason I and my friends in Uni at that time avoided it and did not get to see it until the Home Video came out and we saw this at a friends place. We laughed uncontrollably at the silliness and profanity level of this movie. Everything about this movie screams we the makers know what we are doing. We watched the movie twice in one sitting, just because first time around was not enough.

The lead actors were Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, both gave fantastic performances that is worth noting. It was also a critical success and a box office performer.

The plot centers around two men who own gyms, Pete (Vince Vaughn) and White (Ben Stiller).

Pete is a lay-back fellow, who is struggling to get his life on track because he is a good guy who doesn't feel the need to push. The other problem with him is that he is a bad business owner. Pete owns a gym named Average Joe's Gymnasium. It is a small place, but barely running with bad equipment and only a few members.

Pete has a competitor in White, the arrogant owner of Globo Gym. White's gym is full of new stuff, clean environment and everything in Globo is working. White is a better business man and a better manager of his gym.

Pete has a running mortgage on his gym and due to his bad business management it is not a surprise that he failed to follow through on payment. This led to his gym facing foreclosure. White purchases Pete's mortage and now Pete has thirty days to make payment or loses his gym to White.

Where does dodgeball come to play in this movie, well that was the contest suggested to Pete by one of his gym members to raise the needed money to save his gym.

The movie is directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber who was the man on the chair for also We're the Millers (2013), Central Intelligence (2016), and Skyscraper (2018). Do not let the name of this movie make you overlook it like I did if you have not seen it already, and the movie is still good today, if you want a revisiting.