Movie Review for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Summary: Peter LaFleur is a charismatic underachiever and proprietor of a rundown gym called Average Joe's. The facility's ecclectic clientele of decidedly less-than-"average Joes" is comprised of: a self-styled pirate; a scrawny nerd who dreams of impressing an unattainable cheerleader; an obsessive aficionado of obscure sports; a dim-witted young man; and a cocky know-it-all who, of course, really knows nothing. Peter's humble gym catches the eye of White Goodman, the power-mullet-sporting, Fu-Manchu-d, egomaniacal owner of Globo Gym, a gleaming monolith of fitness. White intends to take over Average Joe's, and Peter's non-existent bookkeeping is making it all too easy for him. A foreclosing bank has stationed attorney Kate Veatch inside Average Joe's to finalize Globo's takeover of the gym. But Peter's boyish charms win her over and Kate joins his team of social rejects to beat the odds--and their own ineptitude--to try to save Average Joe's. How? A showdown dodgeball competition against Globo Gym.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Mike McGranaghan of Aisle Seat (7/0)
            The fusion of violence and silliness makes dodgeball a great subject for a sports comedy, and the...

By Bob Townsend of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/0)
            A comedy so brainless it's actually kind of brilliant.

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (7/0)
            You can never tell whether the next scene will induce loud laughter or contempt; for me, Dodgebal...

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            Globo is owned by Ben Stiller, overacting to the point of apoplexy as White Goodman; his manic pe...

By Mark Caro of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            Once you get beyond nostalgia for dodging red balls whipped at your head, there's little here.

By Russ Breimeier of Christianity Today (7/0)
            White Goodman is one of Stiller's craziest creations, a hilariously dim-witted and mean-spirited ...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By David Keyes of Cinemaphile.org (7/0)
            ...silly, illogical and downright brainless fluff that, for one reason or another, manages to be ...

By Karina Montgomery of Cinerina (7/0)
            Dodgeball, I am shocked to say, rewards you for paying attention. It also rewards you for having...

By Harvey S. Karten of Compuserve (7/0)
            Ben Stiller is too over-the-top, but the pic has solid one-liners.

By Peter Sobczynski of Critic Doctor (7/0)
            I actually found myself laughing quite a bit during 'Dodgeball' - more than enough times to recom...

By Philip Wuntch of Dallas Morning News (7/0)
            The main plot is predictable all the way, but the incidentals are clever.

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (7/0)
            Occasionally, Dodgeball is laugh-out-loud funny, which goes a long way toward redeeming the rest.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Dragan Antulov of Draxblog Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Anyone expecting to find something deep and meaningful in DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY should...

By John J. Puccio of DVDTown.com (7/0)
            ...it's got enough laughs in its ninety-odd minutes to justify the time spent on it, which is mor...

By David Foucher of EDGE Boston (7/0)
            No matter what you read elsewhere, don’t dodge this flick; it’s by far the funniest movie thus fa...

By David Cornelius of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Oh, the movie’s not too bright, but I couldn’t stop laughing, and that’s the point, right?

By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            It’s nearly impossible to watch Vaughn in Dodgeball and not be reminded of the early days of Bill...

By Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            Yep, a full five stars. I loved every last frame of this inspired little sports comedy.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Nicolas Lacroix of EnPrimeur.ca (7/0)
            C'est léger, souvent idiot, mais très amusant.

By Vince Koehler of Entertainment Spectrum (7/0)
            This is a spoof of sport movies with a misfit dodgeball team taking on the meanest team anywhere.

By Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            Direct hit!

By Eric D. Snider of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
            That there even exists a movie called Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and that it has sportscas...

By Eugene Novikov of Film Blather (7/0)
            The screenplay's wit is genuinely impressive.

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Sort of reminds of The Saddest Music in the World, if only Guy Maddin had a sense of humour about...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International (7/0)
            Thurber and his picture-perfect cast manage to deliver a very entertaining and fast-paced 96 minu...

By Stephen Himes of Film Snobs (7/0)
            None of the character of, say, a Will Ferrell movie, or the cyncial wit of Harold and Kumar.

By Robert Strohmeyer of filmcritic.com (7/0)
             strong contender for the title of this summer’s biggest throw-away movie

By Susan Michals of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            In the end, Dodgeball belongs completely to Stiller; as White, he brings a comedic smarminess tha...

By Michael W. Phillips, Jr. of Goatdog's Movies (7/0)
            The biggest laughs come from a cameo, which is never a good sign.

By Bruce Westbrook of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            This lame sports comedy is deflated by clichés, from a save-the-farm plot to sadism disguised as ...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Jeff Otto of IGN Movies (7/0)
            In the tradition of the greatest sports comedies of all time, Dodgeball is a blast and an instant...

By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            Silly, stupid and fun.

By Jackie K. Cooper of jackiekcooper.com (7/0)
            The best Ben Stiller movie in months, but when all is said and done is that saying anything?

By Jim Slotek of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            An extremely slight but funny film, a bastard cousin of Revenge Of The Nerds that devotes itself ...

By Louis B. Hobson of Jam! Movies (7/0)
            Thurber zings the laughs so fast and relentlessly, you can't dodge them all, so you'll likely end...

By JoBlo of JoBlo's Movie Emporium (7/0)
            This is no Zoolander, folks.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (7/0)
            Unlike the herky-jerky 'Stepford Wives,' which can't decide if it's a big-screen 'Will & Grace' e...

By Andrea Chase of Killer Movie Reviews (7/0)
            DODGEBALL has the touch of inspired inanity, the sort that spawns cult followings.

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            Entertaining and funny, despite being loaded with clichés and groin humor.

By Eric Melin of Lawrence.com (7/0)
            The movie dodges laughs as rapidly as it panders for them.

By Jeffrey Overstreet of Looking Closer (7/0)
            For every good punchline, there are fifteen that sound like they were scraped off the walls of me...

By Manohla Dargis of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            It's not the end of American cinema, but it may signal either the end of Ben Stiller's ambitions ...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Austin O'Connor of Lowell Sun (7/0)
            There haven’t been so many shots of guys getting hit where-it-counts since the heyday of America’...

By Randy Shulman of Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) (7/0)
            A sophomoric, broad-strokes farce, one with likeable characters and an abundance of heart, not to...

By Rene Rodriguez of Miami Herald (7/0)
            Vaughn is stuck playing the straight man to a collection of stooges, and he looks utterly bored d...

By Paul Doro of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
            The type of movie that makes you laugh in spite of yourself. It definitely falls under the guilty...

By Frank Ochieng of Movie Eye (7/0)
            However foolish Thurber’s premise may be, it has goofy-inspired gumption and you have to respect ...

By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (7/0)
            Less in the "wow, that's funny" category than the "I can't believe they tried that," as when a un...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (7/0)
            Thurber milks the inspirational sports genre for all it is worth and then makes it come out of ou...

By Kevin A. Ranson of MovieCrypt.com (7/0)
            Slapstick isn’t dead; it just took until now for someone to realize that being hit in the face wi...

By James Rocchi of Netflix (7/0)
            Underachieving comedy is a great parody -- and the best smart-stupid laugh we've had in a long ti...

By Jan Stuart of Newsday (7/0)
            Shtick that aims for an Airplane- style sense of anarchy but instead hits every below- the-belt s...

By Jim Chastain of Norman Transcript (7/0)
            a pretty hilarious movie thanks to Stiller’s willingness to let himself look like a complete idio...

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (7/0)
            More a concept than a movie, and the concept just isn't as clever as the filmmakers think.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            As juvenile and lowbrow as the game itself, but it's surprisingly funny...if you give it a chance...

By Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews (7/0)
            A crude comedy that aims low and hits its mark.

By Tyler Hanley of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
            Dodgeball ducks most filmmaking no-nos and manages to serve up a light-hearted treat.

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            I could watch a guy taking a wrench to the face or a ball to the groin for 90 minutes every day o...

By Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters (7/0)
            Let the grudgy, gross-out, and basically banal competition begin.

By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            ...silly fun...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Kim Morgan of Reel.com (7/0)
            It's actually frequently hilarious, but you can't help feel a bit disappointed by the outcome.

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            Offers about 90 minutes of laughter (although the movie runs out of steam during its final third)...

By Forrest Hartman of Reno Gazette-Journal (7/0)
            It never gets old watching someone take a dodgeball to the noggin.

By Joe Baltake of Sacramento Bee (7/0)
            Non-nutritional, brainless, lowdown, rude fun.

By Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com (7/0)
            The movie doesn't just pussyfoot around conventionality -- it hits it square in the stomach and t...

By Sean Axmaker of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            There's nothing new to the old game except snazzy outfits, slick accoutrements and better banter,...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Erik Lundegaard of Seattle Times (6/1)
            Did that movie just wink at me? I think it did. But I'm not quite sure.

By Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
            It helps to have energetic and gifted actors, but you really need to give them funnier things to ...

By Nick Schager of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            Thurber seems oblivious to the hypocrisy of mocking our image-conscious society while simultaneou...

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            Can somebody please stop Ben Stiller?...The (movie's) one vicariously vengeful pleasure is seeing...

By Paul Salfen of Supercala.com (7/0)
            Just when it seemed like Ben Stiller needed to go away for a while, he hams it up once again with...

By Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com (7/0)
            For viewers who just want to laugh for 90 minutes without having to think too much, the no-holds-...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            If you only see one movie about dodgeball this summer - make sure it's this one! They take this s...

By Scott Nash of Three Movie Buffs (7/0)
            Stupid is as stupid does, and in this movie, stupid does some pretty funny stuff.

By Wendy Ide of Times [UK] (7/0)
            You have to respect a movie that wears its shortcomings proudly on its sleeve

By Audrey Rock-Richardson of Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) (7/0)
            Stiller's back in top form as a flamboyant male bimbo.

By Angel Cohn of TV Guide's Movie Guide (4/3)
            Stiller doesn't know when to stop; his thoroughly repellent character, whose relationship with pi...

By Mike Clark of USA Today (7/0)
            From the same generic mind-set that could just as easily have given us Major League: Concession S...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Ed Park of Village Voice (7/0)
            The most satisfying comedy of the past year -- at least among the ones starring Stiller.

By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (7/0)
            Thurber makes you forget convention and enjoy a genuine yukfest, full of down-and-dirty (but funn...

By Susan Granger of www.susangranger.com (7/0)
            This crazed sports spoof is silly, stupid and only intermittently funny. I'd advise waiting for t...

By Stephen Holden of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            Ben Stiller plays a pumped-up fitness guru in a consistently funny sports spoof that unapologetic...

By Fred Topel of About.com (3/4) No reference
            This is not a stupid comedy. A comedy with this many elements has to be smartly structured and bl...

By Danny Minton of Beaumont Journal (3/4) No reference
            This is definitely how to make a good stupid movie: accept the stupidity, own it, and then have f...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Wade Major of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            There really isn't enough there to cover for the clichés, making Dodgeball intermittently funny a...

By Pablo Villaca of Cinema em Cena (3/4) No reference
            Provavelmente já terá sido esquecido daqui a um ano - o que não quer dizer que não funcione como ...

By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (3/4) No reference
            Rude, crude and not quite as funny as it would like to be.

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (3/4) No reference
            Aims low -- and happily hits its target.

By Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper (3/4) No reference
            ... a hilariously worthy successor to the great goofball comedies of the late Seventies and early...

By Sean O'Connell of Eclipse Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Half of Dodgeball is very funny. The other half has Ben Stiller in it.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter (6/1) No reference
            This piece of juvenilia all too willingly embraces the team motto of the movie's heroes: Aim low.

By Jack Garner of Journal News (Westchester, NY) (3/4) No reference
            Every summer needs its share of mindless laughs. This should hold you, at least until we see whet...

By Robert Abele of L.A. Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Thurber loads up on plenty of tired, male-identified, low-comedy standbys, including homosexual p...

By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Despite his inexperience, Thurber apparently knows just how to make the perfect stupid summer mov...

By John Larsen of Light Views (6/1) No reference
            Getting hit in the face with a ball isn't funny, but watching someone else get hit in the face is...

By Colin Covert of Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Bounces along with a dumb, energetic oomph.

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Martin Scribbs of Mixed Reviews (3/4) No reference
            Most of Dodgeball's considerable humor comes from droopy-eyed Vince Vaughn watching manic, macho ...

By Luke Y. Thompson of New Times (3/4) No reference
            Not sure where the producers get off implying that this sports-movie satire is in any way true, b...

By Lisa Rose of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
            While it doesn't have enough heart to put it in league with the all-time great sports comedies, t...

By M.E. Russell of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            If you hold a perverse soft spot in your heart for straight-to-video underdog junk like Ski Schoo...

By Jay Boyar of Orlando Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            Too many of [Thurber's] gags rely on easy grunge humor or stunt casting, or simply misfire.

By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Dodgeball may not be for children, but it is tailor-made for the childish, and it goes without sa...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By David Hiltbrand of Philadelphia Inquirer (3/4) No reference
            A lazy, flabby waste.

By James Kendrick of Q Network Film Desk (3/4) No reference
            much funnier than any movie about dodgeball has a right to be

By Sean Means of Salt Lake Tribune (3/4) No reference
            In no way a great movie, or even a particularly good one... [but enough laughs] to earn it a plac...

By Phoebe Flowers of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            A cheerfully sloppy ode to every underdog comedy ever made.

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) No reference
            Truly a team effort, and it's a winning one.

By Josh Larsen of Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (3/4) No reference
            ...offers the sort of entertainment that has been found in junior-high gym classes for ages: watc...

                         Reviews of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
By Jeffrey Chen of Window to the Movies (3/4) No reference
            It almost feels like a dare: laugh at this, even though we all know this is totally dumb.

Movie Distributors
20th Century Fox Distribution

Production Companies
Mediastream Film
Red Hour Films

Movie Studios
20th Century Fox