Dodgeball

With a tagline that says "a true underdog story", Dodgeball certainly turns out to be an entertaining sports comedy.

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Rip Torn
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) an easygoing underachiever runs Average Joe's, a rundown gym catering to a handful of individuals. His priority is not to make gym activity seem like a chore, but more of an enjoyable experience. He encourages his members to cultivate an attitude of fun while they may be working on their exercise routines.

On the other hand and also on the other side of the street, there's Globo Gym, a corporate fitness chain where discipline, sacrifice and fitness make up the ideals. The atmosphere is very professional, very refined and very focused. This place is run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller) a self-loving ex-overweight with a Fu Manchu mustache.

With hardly any book-keeping in place Average Joe's runs into trouble with the bank who threaten to shut it down if a sum of 50000 dollars is not compensated. Globo Gym sets its eyes on Average Joe's and Goodman is just biding his time till the bank foreclosure.

With the threat of being evicted from their sole bit of social life the team of misfits try to save Average Joe’s. Competing and winning a Las Vegas Dodge ball tournament is their only way of earning the money for the gym and with the help of legendary dodge ball champion Patches O’Houlihan (Rip Torn), now on a motorized wheelchair, manage to assemble and practice for the tournament. Meanwhile Goodman in an effort to deny this to Average Joe’s, assembles his own crack team of ‘Purple Cobras’ a professional attire made up of the Goodman’s very own buffed up bodyguards and world champion players. The showdown is all set for the tournament and what ensues is a fight for survival.

A pretty good start for a first timer at the movie business. Rawson Marshall Thurber whose previous credits include the Reebok commercials has done a good job of piecing together a story, even if it seems more like a sports spoof. However, this one is not for all audiences. The humor as can be best put is light and if you are the kind of person that requires a good laugh or doesn’t want to, this might not fancy you much. Nevertheless, it's a clean laugh and with a PG-13 rating its good family fun. More so with soda and popcorn for the weekend, perhaps?