Revisited - DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

This movie is one of the cult classic movies of my childhood. It's one of the films you watched on a lazy Sunday afternoon or one your older brother puts on. Whichever way you stumble upon this film, it delivers as a well balanced movie. It gives a simple story with outlandish characters and ties it in with a heartwarming comedy ending and great jokes. These outlandish comedy movies is what made the early 2000's so entertaining to watch.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story is a 2004 American sports comedy film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller.

The plot follows a group of misfits entering a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament to save their cherished local gym from the onslaught of a corporate health fitness chain.

Peter LaFleur is the owner of Average Joe's Gymnasium, a small, dilapidated gym with only a few members. When he defaults on the gym's mortgage, it is purchased by White Goodman, the arrogant owner of the Globo Gym across the street. Unless Peter can raise $50,000 in thirty days, Goodman will foreclose on Average Joe's and demolish it to build a parking garage. Attorney Katherine "Kate" Veatch is working on the transaction for Goodman. He unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her; she is repulsed, but just cites conflict of interest (COI) to refuse his advances. Meanwhile, she becomes close to Peter while reviewing his financial records.

Average Joe's employees Dwight and Owen and members Steve (who acts like and truly believes he is a pirate), Justin, and Gordon try to raise the money needed to save the gym. Gordon suggests they all enter a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas with a $50,000 prize. The team watches a 1950s-era training video narrated by dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan and a boy named Timmy. They are soundly defeated by a Girl Scout troop in a local qualifying match, but the Scouts are disqualified due to steroid and beaver tranquilizer use.

Goodman spies on Average Joe's using a hidden camera, and forms his own dodgeball team to defeat them. Peter is approached by the aging Patches, now a wheelchair user, who volunteers to coach the team. Patches's unusual training regimen includes throwing wrenches at the team, forcing them to dodge oncoming cars, and constantly berating them with insults. Kate demonstrates skill at the game but declines to join the team as it would be a COI. Meanwhile, Goodman arranges for Kate to be fired from her law firm to free her from COI and allow him to date her. Enraged, but now free of COI, Kate joins the Average Joe's team.

At the tournament in Las Vegas, Average Joe's suffers early setbacks but manages to advance to the final round against Globo Gym. The night before the match, Patches is killed by a falling sign. Peter expresses his anxiety that the team will lose and angrily tells Steve that he is not a pirate, causing Steve to leave the team. Returning to his room, Peter encounters Goodman, who greedily offers him $100,000 for the deed to Average Joe's. The day of the final round, Justin leaves to help his classmate Amber in a cheerleading competition, leaving Average Joe's without enough members to compete. Peter has a chance encounter with Lance Armstrong, who shames him into rejoining his team. But he and Justin return too late; Average Joe's has already forfeited the match. Gordon finds a loophole in the rules: a majority of the judges can overturn the forfeiture. Chuck Norris casts the tie-breaking vote, allowing the team to play.

After an intense game, Peter and Goodman face off in a sudden-death match to determine the winner. Inspired by a vision of Patches, Peter blindfolds himself and is able to dodge Goodman's throw and strike him, winning the championship and the prize money. Goodman declares the victory meaningless, revealing that Peter sold Average Joe's to him the previous night, but Peter reveals that he used Goodman's $100,000 to bet on Average Joe's to win; with the odds against them at 50 to 1, he collects $5 million. Because Globo Gym is a public company, he purchases a controlling interest in it, thus regaining Average Joe's, and fires Goodman. Steve, now with a more normal appearance, returns to the group and apologizes to Peter, but with Peter's encouragement he quickly returns to his pirate persona when Peter shows him their winnings. Peter is shocked when Joyce, a girlfriend of Kate's, kisses her passionately, but Kate then reveals that she is bisexual and kisses Peter similarly. Kate becomes Peter's lover, Justin and Amber get married with a baby on the way, while Owen begins dating Fran from the Globo Gym team. Peter opens youth dodgeball classes at a newly renovated Average Joe's, while Goodman becomes morbidly obese.

In a post-credits scene, Goodman complains to the audience about how American cinema "can't handle any complexity in it" because of its "good guy wins, bad guy loses" happy endings.

All in all, this film has everything a 2000 film offers. It gives you great outlandish characters that Ben Stiller is great at playing, great comedy, and a underdog story you can get behind. It's not a great comedy movie nor is it the best movie ever made but it doesn't have to be. It stood the test of time and many people have been calling for a sequel ever since it was released. So go watch it, enjoy and don't forget to grab life by the dodgeball. This has been Revisited, thanks for reading. Ricardo signing off