Who didn’t love playing dodgeball while they were growing up? The opportunity to hit other kids with a ball and call it athletics; I used to love those days in gym class when I could load up and fire a ball at some kid I didn’t like or was having a beef with. It was fun stuff. Remembering how much I liked the game as a child is probably the main reason I have a major soft spot for 2004’s DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story. The film, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, takes the children’s game and turns it into an ultra-competitive sport, and causes adults to behave like children.
Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn) owns Average Joe’s Gym, a run-down little place that caters to a clientele of scruffy folks unable to pay their bills. Pete doesn’t care because they’re all like family. Pete’s having a good day when his car starts in the morning. Pete’s staff and his clients, are an eclectic bunch, to say the least: Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk), talks and dresses like Long John Silver; Gordon (Stephen Root), is a role that seems patterned after the Rick Moranis character in “Ghostbusters”; Justin (Justin Long), a young fellow who may or may not still be in high school and is hopelessly in love with the head cheerleader; and Dwight (Chris Williams) and Owen (Joel Moore), a couple of loyal but not entirely with it, gym rats.
Across the street is Globo Gym America, a huge, upscale, multimillion-dollar facility run by White Goodman (“Hi, I’m White”), played by Ben Stiller. White is an egotistical, little, pumped-up jerk who bought the place with his father’s money. His slogan: “Here at Globo Gym, we’re better than you, and we know it!” White isn’t interested in just owning a chain of fancy gyms, he wants Pete’s place, too; he says he needs the space for a parking lot. Truth be told, White has little respect for anyone.”Your gym is a skid mark on the underpants of society,” White tells Pete.
On top of having to deal with White, Pete has serious financial problems. He owes $50,000 in back rent, and if he doesn’t pay up, the bank will foreclose and White will buy him out. As it turns out, Gordon is an avid reader of Obscure Sports Quarterly and notices sees there is a dodgeball tournament with a first prize of $50,000. Having found the answer to save their beloved gym, Pete and his merry band of gym rats decide to enter the Las Vegas International Dodgeball Open, at which point White decides to field a team as well. Only White’s team is made up of guys named Blade, Lazer, Blazer, and Me’Shell, all buff, six-foot athletes; plus their ringer, Fran Stalinovskovichdaviddivichski, a Romanovian dodgeball champion and “the deadliest woman on earth with a dodgeball.”
Undaunted, Pete and the guy decide to hire Patches O’Houlihan (Rip Torn) considered the greatest dodgeball player of all time. It doesn’t matter that he’s now elderly and in a wheelchair; he understands the five D’s of dodgeball better than anyone else: Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. The O’Houlihan character (played in flashbacks by Hank Azaria) almost steals the film from Vaughn and Stiller. “Remember, dodgeball is a sport of violence, exclusion, and degradation,” O’Houlihan proclaims in a 1950’s dodgeball training film. He throws wrenches at his players to sharpen up their dodging skills (“If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”)
Vaughn and Stiller work well together. Stiller’s egotistical, annoying White is a good foil for Vaughn’s good-guy Pete. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story uses a lot of risqué, teenage potty humor to get cheap laughs. If that’s to your liking, this Blu-ray definitely should have a place in your collection.
As an added bonus, the filmmakers have thrown in a few interesting cameos– Lance Armstrong, Chuck Norris, David Hasselhoff, and William Shatner.
If you’re a fan of Vince Vaughn and/or Ben Stiller, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, wont disappoint.
The video is presented in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. There is a moderate amount of detail, but there is a lack of visual depth to the look of the film. The black level is adequately solid, showing off the vivid colors seen throughout the film, which have a bright look to it, and accurate fleshtones. There is a slight amount of film grain/noise present, and no signs of filters used such as Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), or Edge Enhancement (EE), and also no signs of compression issues.
The audio on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The audio on this release is primarily dialogue-based for the first half of the film which is presently primarily through the front center channel, though this doesn’t mean sound effects and such are let go; the particular impact of a wrench striking Justin Long’s character in the face has quite the “ding” to it, as do all other sound effects. The music soundtrack is fun and keeps the balls bouncing during the fight scenes. So bring it on. The encoding is DTS-HDMA.
The first feature is an audio commentary with Director Rawson Marshall Thurber and actors Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. This is the same “joke” commentary that was released on the previous DVD.
• There are nine deleted scenes, they are unpolished and not enhanced for widescreen televisions. Some of these scenes are extensions of ones in the film. While they are funny, they are mainly cut to keep the pace of the film from slowing down. Also here is the original ending. The total running time is about 12 minutes.
• Dodgeball Boot Camp: Training for Dodgeball (4:3 SD, 3:27) – This is about the nature of the dodge ball game and how grueling it can be.
• The Anatomy of a Hit (4:3 SD, 3:25) – show the actors getting hit by balls in the face.
• Justin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese (4:3 SD, 3:34) – some joke shots of Justin Long.
• Dodgeball: Go for the Gold (4:3 SD, 1:20) – about how dodgeball should be an Olympic sport.
• Bloopers/Gag Reel (4:3 SD, 3:02)
There are also three selections available to see the Dodgeball Dancers (4:3 SD, 2:29) uncensored. These show three sexy dances that were cut from the film.
• How to find Easter Eggs – click on the purple cobra to find that Easter Eggs do exists on this disc; they have been ported over from the 2005 DVD release.
