It blows my mind that Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is just over 20 years old as I write this! I love and I mean love this movie, I have easily seen this over 20 times over the last two decades, and it never fails to make me laugh. Even though I know all the lines and what is going to happen, this movie still cracks me up.
How to Download Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was released on June 18, 2004. You can download the film from a digital store such as Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video.
The Movie Review
Why This Comedy Still Holds Up
I would put Dodgeball up there as the best that Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller have to offer, as far as comedy goes. While they are the stars, this is a real ensemble cast as everyone does their part to make this movie so great. This is a real feel-good movie for me. After a long day or a crappy week, you can fire up Dodgeball, even if you have watched it recently, and have a fun time and forget what is bothering you.
The Plot – Average Joe’s vs Globo Gym
The plot of the movie revolves around the rivalry between two gym owners. We have Average Joe’s, which is owned by Vince Vaughn’s Peter, which is a rundown gym with a real community spirit that seems to attract some less than normal people to work out there. For example, Steve the Pirate is a man who thinks that he is a pirate, Justin is a high school student who can’t work out at school because they made him eat clay, and Gordon is an older guy with a mail-order bride! Plus, the other staff who work here are kind of weird, too.
Right across from Average Joe’s is Globo Gym, part of a chain of gyms owned by the crazy White Goodman, played by Ben Stiller. White and Peter hate each other, but when Peter misses a mortgage payment, Goodman sneaks in, and if Peter cannot make 50 grand in 30 days, Goodman will take Average Joe’s. He plans to demolish it and build a car park for his gym members.
I cannot stress enough how awesome Ben Stiller is as White Goodman. It all looks lost for Average Joe’s, but Gordon comes up with the idea that they can play in the national dodgeball competition to win the money to save the gym. Kate Veach has been assigned to deal with the acquisition for Globo Gym, but she is creeped out by Goodman and sides with the people at Average Joe’s.
The Tournament and Training Montage
To help them, they got a dodgeball legend, Patches O’Houlihan, who is played by Rip Torn. Patches is freaking hilarious and gives wisdom such as “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” and “if you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball”. The training montages are awesome!
Humor, References, and Standout Moments
The actual dodgeball tournament is fantastic, and while this is mostly played for laughs. You do get some good character stuff here, with many of the characters growing and changing as the movie progresses. Also, the whole GI Joe reference of Cobras vs Joes is awesome and something that I will be honest and say, I did not pick up on the first few times that I saw this movie.
There are so many funny moments in this movie that I could do a top 10 and probably struggle to narrow it down.
Final Thoughts and Hopes for the Sequel
For me, this is a perfect comedy, and it would easily make my greatest comedies of all time list. Hopefully, this will get a 4K release someday, and the sequel that has been teased for what feels like forever will actually happen at some point. The fact that my only two cons are that as of writing there is no 4K and that the sequel is taking forever, tell you how much I love this movie!
