Dodgeball
There’s little funnier on this earth than watching a man with a mullet and a moustache getting repeatedly hit around the head by fast-moving balls. For those unfamiliar with this somewhat American sport, normally played in schools, not by grown men, it is introduced via a fake 1950s training film as “the sport of violence, exclusion and degradation”. It may sound childish – hell, it is childish – but it’s also hilarious. The only way you won’t be amused is if you have no joy remaining, and the simple things in life no longer hold any appeal. Which would, let’s face it, not be a particularly pleasant situation to be in.Ben Stiller, rapidly securing his position alongside Jack Black as everyone’s favourite Hollywood funny man, is the mulleted moustachioed man in question – the self-obsessed fitness guru White Goodman, effectively Derek Zoolander if he had owned a gym. It is certainly the style of Stiller’s most successful outing to date that Dodgeball is attempting to recreate. The spot-on fashion comedy that was 2001’s Zoolander showcased Stiller at his very best, combining physical comedy with genuine humour and walking a fine line between social satire and the just plain silly. This is more in the same vein.
Where Zoolander mocked male vanity and the fashion industry, Dodgeball’s target is male vanity plain and simple. Stiller’s mulleted gym owner is a former fatty who still hasn’t managed to control his cravings for junk food and is attempting to take over the aptly named Average Joe’s gym, run by Vince Vaughan’s regular guy, Peter La Fleur. In danger of bankruptcy, Peter and his regulars decide to compete in a Las Vegas Dodgeball tournament, despite all being more or less utterly unfit and never having played the game in their lives. The near psychotic Patches (the excellent Rip Torn), a former Dodgeball ace, comes to their aid with a tough training regime that largely involvs being hit around the head with lumps of metal – but will it be enough for them to win? Who cares as long as they all get hit around the head a lot?
As is no doubt apparent, the plot is somewhat sparse, but to be honest, plot is hardly the point here. Who needs sophisticated comedy and witty dialogue where the site of grown men hurting themselves does the job with half the effort? The success of the likes of Jackass and home movie shows like You’ve Been Framed has proved there is a great market for amusing pain. Here, that pain is (mostly) faked and tightly choreographed, but it is no less amusing for the lack of true discomfort.
The whole aim of this movie is soliciting raucous belly-laughs from its audience via a range of wince-inducing slapstick tomfoolery. Add to that a guy who thinks he’s a pirate, and what more could you ask for? Dodgeball is top-notch mindless, stupid fun.
posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM
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