Product Description

You'll dodge, duck, dip, dive. . . and laugh out loud watching Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller settle their differences in a winner-take-all dodgeball competition. Under the painful tutelage of legendary ADAA champ, Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), Peter LaFleur (Vaughn) and his Average Joes take on the Purple Cobras, led by egomaniacal fitness guru, White Goodman (Stiller). It's an over-the-top underdog tale filled with hilarious sight gags and balls-out fun!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1139 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-07
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com
How's this for impressive trivia: Dodgeball faced off against The Terminal in opening-weekend competition, and 29-year-old writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber aced Steven Spielberg by a score of $30 to $18.7 in box-office millions. That's no mean feat for a newcomer, but Thurber's lowbrow script and rapid-fire direction--along with a sublime cast of screen comedians--proved to be just what moviegoers were ravenous for: a consistently hilarious, patently formulaic romp in which the underdog owner of Average Joe's Gym (Vince Vaughn) faces foreclosure unless he can raise $50,000 in 30 days. The solution: A dodgeball tournament offering $50K to the winners, in which Vaughn and his nerdy clientele team up against the preening, abhorrently narcissistic owner (Ben Stiller) of Globo Gym, who's threatening a buy-out. That's it for story; any 5-year-old could follow it with brainpower to spare. But Thurber, Vaughn, Stiller, and their well-cast costars (including Stiller's off-screen wife, Christine Taylor) keep the big laughs coming for 96 nonsensical minutes. With spot-on cameos by champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong, David Hasselhoff, Hank Azaria, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner, and a crudely amusing coda for those who watch past the credits, Dodgeball is no masterpiece, but you can bet Spielberg was unexpectedly humbled by its popular appeal. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The year of Ben Stiller (this is his fourth film to be released since January) continues with this hit-and-miss comedy. Stiller plays the owner of a corporate fitness center who's plotting to drive a local gym out of business. The cool-as-sweat Vince Vaughn plays the gym's owner, and, in classic "Bad News Bears" style, he puts together a team of misfits to win a tournament and save the day. Rawson Marshall Thurber's ragtag direction and writing leave plenty of room for the great supporting cast to let it rip. Especially so in the case of Rip Torn, who plays a tough, wheel-chair-using trainer. Jason Bateman and Gary Cole provide laughs as clueless sports commentators, and a host of cameo performers (including Lance Armstrong and William Shatner) hurtle their lines at the audience with glee. The movie is goofy, ridiculous, and, all in all, somewhat inspiring. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker