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Dodgeball
Dogeball, the promise of supreme dodginess is in the title, and it doesn’t disappoint. While it lacks in the traditional areas of dodginess, explosions, car chases and special effects, it doesn’t need these. No, Dodgeball defines whole new levels of dodginess, all of which are a little strange and unbelievably amusing.
Ben Stiller comes from an established pedigree of dodginess, and Vince Vaughn is rapidly establishing himself as one of the “go to” dodgy actors. Throw in a couple of cameos from David Hasselhoff and Chuck Norris and Lance Armstrong (for that genuine sports movie credibility) and you’ve got a good recipe for humour. However, the real show stealer is Hank Azaria as Patches O’Hoolihan. Just when you thought his performance couldn’t get more over the top, it does.
The plot contains the elements of all successful sports movies, the unlikeable favourite loses and the underdog wins while the hero learns a valuable lesson and redeems himself at the same time, it even throws in 2 love stories, but you’re not watching this one for the storyline.
Dodginess
Movies like this make me regret that there is an upper limit to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scale and I find myself forced to give it 5 out of 5, when it really deserves at least a 9 or 10. It’s really hard to single out the dodgiest moment in this film as there are so many of them, and the transition between them is so seamless the entire movie seems like one long dodgy moment. The "sudden Death Dodgeball" in the final would be the dodgiest moment, if it wasn’t for Hank Azaria, a wheelchair and a sack of wrenches.
Rewatchability Rating
I can’t get tired of this one. In fact, I could pretty much just stick the DVD player on repeat and let it run. I find myself laughing merely in anticipation of the moments that are coming, or the memory of the sack of wrenches. The only part that is a little disturbing is Ben Stiller in the fat suit dancing along during the credits. But it’s during the credits, and you can stop the movie before that. This one rates a solid five on the rewatchability index.
Most Memorable Quote
The film has a number of great lines, but the winner of this one had no competition. “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
Final Thoughts
Very few movies manage a five for both dodginess and rewatchability. That in itself should give you an indication of how good Dodgeball is. This film is the pinnacle of dodgy movies and I doubt any film is ever going to challenge it’s supremacy in the realm of dodgy movies.