‘Dodgeball’ is a zany laugh fest

“Dodgeball a True Underdog Story” is a charming, zany and somewhat

crass film that keeps you in stitches.

The plot is clumsy but entertaining and uproariously hilarious.

The commercials sum it up quite well. To put it simply, a slovenly,

love hungry gym owner (Vince Vaughn) is about to have his gym

foreclosed. The harbinger of this news is no less than a nubile

petite beauty that Vaughn is immediately smitten with. Unless he can

come up with $50,000 in less than 30 days, he loses his gym; which is

mainly an outpost for rejects and misfits.

Ben Stiller portrays the proprietor of Globogym. He is a vacuous,

obtuse, self-absorbed megalomaniac that wants to level Vaughn’s gym

to expand his parking lot.

The dialogue between Vaughn and Stiller is priceless and totally

reminiscent of the film “Zoolander.” Vaughn is a laid back

underachiever and Stiller is the mindless twit, the repartee is a

one-sided struggle making the droll charisma of Vaughn expose

Stiller’s witless foolishness.

The regular guys enter a dodge ball contest with the seemingly

hopeless dream of winning the prize, which is conveniently $50,000.

This hapless group of misfits, led by a languidly ambivalent Vaughn,

train for the conquest with numerous mishaps and comedic delights.

Globogym also enters to crush Vaughn and thwart his plan. Stiller

assembles a formidable coterie of massive opponents with the goal of

humiliating Vaughn and his group.

The entire film is a fast-paced laugh fest, but the plot is thin

so do not expect much. It is everything it promises to be, slapstick,

lowbrow, comical and even a bit endearing. If you can laugh at

yourself and like watching people get hit by moving objects, then

this is a film for you.

* EVAN MARMOL is Laguna Beach resident. He graduated from UC

Irvine with a degree in psychology and social behavior. He can be

reached at Evan_Marmol@hotmail.com.