Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Can somebody please stop Ben Stiller? Ever since There's Something About Mary, the guy has been a horrendous ham, devouring scenery with an eye-bugging, eyebrow-stitching shtick so stale and predictable that his last dozen movies have all included the same gag: slow-motion scenes of Stiller madly mugging while dancing or running or--in this case--playing the titular game of schoolyard pain and humiliation in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. This time out he's in irritatingly arrogant, mock-sexy-pouting, self-obsessed moron mode (à la Starsky & Hutch or Zoolander) as a testosterone-overloaded workout guru bent on destroying his meager across-the-street competition, the rundown and nearly bankrupt Average Joe's Gym, operated by slovenly schlub Vince Vaughn. Determined to save their nonjudgmental hangout from foreclosure, Average Joe's nerdy movie-stereotype regulars band together to compete against Stiller's buff-bodied team in a $50,000 dodgeball tournament. Nothing but an asinine gimmick plugged into the fill-in-the-blank spaces of an underdog sports-comedy template, the one vicariously vengeful pleasure in Dodgeball is seeing its shameless cast repeatedly take real shots to the head from big red rubber balls. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentary (by writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber, and costars Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn), seven deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Thurber, the original alternate ending with optional commentary, the featurettes “Dodgeball Boot Camp” (on training), “The Anatomy of a Hit,” “Go for the Gold” featuring Vaughn and Stiller heralding dodgeball as an Olympics-worthy sport, and the outtakes featurette “Justin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese,” a bloopers/gag reel segment, an Easter egg feature (accessible every time Stiller's character snaps his fingers during the film), trailers, and DVD-ROM features (including the screenplay). Bottom line: Extras--3, Film--1] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review--June 27, 2005--Fox, 92 min., not rated, $26.98--Making its second appearance on DVD, 2004's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story--Unrated Edition includes all the same special features as the previous release and comes with two bonus deleted scenes and the eight-minute featurette “More with the Dodgeball Dancers.” Bottom line: an unnecessary new edition--with negligible added extras--of a rather unnecessary film to begin with.][Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Fox, 93 min., not rated, $34.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2004's Dodgeball boasts a great transfer and a 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous unrated DVD release, including audio commentary (by writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber, and costars Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn), nine deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary by Thurber, the original alternate ending with optional commentary, the featurettes “Dodgeball Boot Camp” (on training), “The Anatomy of a Hit,” “Go for the Gold” featuring Vaughn and Stiller heralding dodgeball as an Olympics-worthy sport, the eight-minute featurette “More with the Dodgeball Dancers,” “Justin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese,” a bloopers/gag reel segment, an Easter egg feature (accessible every time Stiller's character snaps his fingers during the film), and trailers. Bottom line: Dodgeball looks nice in Blu, but is still a lame comedy.]