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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

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Released 18-Jan-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Trailer-I, Robot, The Day AfterTomorrow, Alien vs Predator
Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio
Audio Commentary-Rawson Marshall Thurber (Writer/Director) & Actors
Deleted Scenes-And Extended Scenes, With Optional Director's Commentary
Alternate Ending-With Optional Director's Commentary
Featurette-Dodgeball Boot Camp: Training For Dodgeball
Featurette-The Anatomy Of A Hit
Featurette-Justin Long: A Study In Ham & Cheese
Featurette-Dodgeball: Go For The Gold
Featurette-More With The Dodgeball Dancers, With Introduction
Outtakes
Web Links
Easter Egg-7
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2004
Running Time 88:46
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (41:37) Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Rawson Marshall Thurber
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Vince Vaughn
Christine Taylor
Ben Stiller
Rip Torn
Justin Long
Stephen Root
Joel Moore
Chris Williams
Alan Tudyk
Missi Pyle
Jamal Duff
Gary Cole
Jason Bateman
Case ?
RPI $39.95 Music Kenneth Burgomaster
Theodore Shapiro
Christopher Ward


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
English Audio Commentary
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, Keep watching right to the end!

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   

'Go Balls Deep'

    I am a big fan of the comedic work of Ben Stiller. I have enjoyed every movie I can remember seeing him in from Meet The Parents to There's Something About Mary to one I reviewed recently, Envy, and this one, Dodgeball : A True Underdog Story. This film was written and directed by a young director getting his first shot at making a feature film, Rawson Marshall Thurber. The film was produced by Ben Stiller's production company, Red Door, so this was obviously a project which Ben Stiller believed in.

    Before I go too much further I should mention that this DVD contains a forced anti-piracy ad at the beginning followed by 3 trailers (which you can skip through) before reaching the menu. Those of you who hate these with a passion feel free to get angry now...

    Dodgeball : A True Underdog Story centres around the sport of dodgeball which seems to really exist in American high schools, although I do not necessarily remember it being played at my high school here in Australia (that was a few years ago, however). Dodgeball is a fairly simple game which involves two teams of six players each aligned opposite each other in a court about the size of a basketball court I would guess. Six large rubber balls are used and each team must eliminate members of the other team by hitting them with the balls. If someone catches a ball directed at them then the person who threw the ball is eliminated and an extra member of the catcher's team can come back on court. Whichever team has all its players eliminated first, loses.

    The plot is fairly perfunctory and really only exists to support the jokes and lots of people getting hit with rubber balls and wrenches. There are two gyms which are directly across the street from each other. One is a huge edifice of chrome and glass called Globo Gym where only the beautiful people work out. It is owned and run by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), a dumb arrogant dork who is also very fit. He used to be fat and still struggles with his temptations, as shown by some very amusing sequences in the film. He is surrounded by a group of huge, fit yes men such as his fitness consigliore, Me'shell (Jamal Duff). Over the road is a very different gym indeed, Average Joe's, run by the apathetic nice guy, Peter Le Fleur (Vince Vaughan). The patrons and staff of Average Joe's are various dorks, losers and weirdos including Dwight & Owen, his employees, Justin (Justin Long), a failed cheerleader, Steve (Alan Tudyk) who thinks he's a pirate and Gordon (Stephen Root), the fat gym junkie and obscure sports fan. Average Joe's is very run down and Peter does not bother trying to collect membership fees and accordingly the gym is in financial trouble. White Goodman wants to get rid of Average Joe's and he buys out their mortgage and because they are in arrears, Peter must find $50,000 in a month to save the gym. Despite Peter's lack of enthusiasm, the guys decide that the best way to get the money is to follow Gordon's suggestion and enter a national Dodgeball championship which has a prize of $50,000. Initially, they are really bad at the game and get beaten in the regional qualifiers by a group of girl scouts, however, they are approached by an old Dodgeball legend, Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn) who offers to coach them. Despite some questionable and fairly violent training techniques they begin to develop their skills and make a run for the title. Into this mix is also thrown Catherine Veitch (Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller's wife) who is an employee of the bank who is overseeing Goodman's attempt to take over Average Joe's. She develops a relationship with Peter, even though White tries to pick her up.

    To my mind this is a very funny film, combining some nice satire about gyms and the people who attend them with a great selection of gross-out and homoerotic jokes. Ben Stiller is great as White Goodman, a character quite unlike a lot of his previous roles in that he is not the hopeless nice guy but rather the baddie. I know he has been nominated for a razzie for this and other performances but I think that is very wrong. He is a great comedic actor, with excellent delivery and timing. The other player who stands out is Rip Torn as the psychopathic coach, Patches O'Houlihan. There are also a number of small parts and cameos which are worth watching out for such as Gary Cole & Justin Bateman as the Dodgeball commentators, Hank Azaria as the young Patches O'Houlihan and cameos from David Hasselhoff, Lance Armstrong, William Shatner & Chuck Norris. To give you an idea of the sort of humour involved, here is part of an advertisement for Globo Gym which is shown right at the beginning of the film. If you don't find this amusing, this film is probably not for you.

'Here at Globo Gym, we understand that ugliness and fatness are genetic disorders, much like baldness or necrophilia'

    If you like comedy films like Starsky & Hutch, There's Something About Mary or Zoolander you will definitely get some laughs out of this. Highly Recommended. And don't forget the 5 D's of Dodgeball...

'Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive & Dodge'

 

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is very good but slightly over-compressed.

    The feature is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, which is the original aspect ratio. The transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout but slightly affected by some very light grain, probably related to the MPEG compression. There was no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was excellent.

    The colour was excellent and there were no issues with colour artefacts.

    There were no film artefacts, however there were some mild MPEG artefacts such as aliasing on Venetian blinds at 2:21, a car bumper at 33:08 and a few other spots. Also, I noticed some minor jagged edges and some mild shimmering on pans. I was slightly surprised to see some edge enhancement considering how new this film is.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, slightly summarised from the spoken word and easy to read.

    The layer change occurs at 41:37 and was extremely well hidden.
    

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is also very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s. As you would expect with a comedy the sound is mostly front focused.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film is by Theodore Shapiro and is of very good quality, adding significantly to the feel of the film. Various other pieces of music are used very well and some of the choices of songs impressed me.

    The surround speakers added crowd noise to the tournament scenes and some atmosphere otherwise. This film by its nature is not one to use lots of surround effects.

     The subwoofer did not get a lot of use, and just really added bass to the music.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, stills from the film and functions for setup and scene selection.

Commentary by Director/Writer Rawson Marshall Thurber and stars Vince Vaughan & Ben Stiller

    This is a big joke, mostly on the listening public. This commentary is just an extended argument interspersed with the sounds of Vince Vaughan drinking beer and eating chips. They give the director and the crew recording the commentary a hard time and are generally obnoxious. It becomes obvious very quickly that this is not a serious commentary and unfortunately it is not funny either. The real commentaries are Easter Eggs (see below). Don't waste your time.

Deleted & Extended Scenes (11:35 total)

    An interesting and funny set of deleted scenes. An optional commentary by the director is included which covers why scenes were cut but spends most of the time just describing the action. The scenes are:

  1. Cardio Cowboy - A funny pisstake on the current craze of novelty exercise programs.
  2. Gordon asks for a divorce - More interaction between Gordon and his family.
  3. Justin & Amber see Derek before cheerleading finals - Basically Derek in a full body cast 
  4. The Dirty Sanchez - Extended bar scene with Dwight subplot
  5. Fran & Owen in bed - Funny stuff
  6. Kate's Porch - Extended version of the scene between Kate & White on her porch
  7. Justin & Amber Kiss - Extended kiss.
  8. Shame Triangle - Abandoned concept of how players who foul are treated.
  9. Three Way Kiss - The logical extension of Kate's revelation in the closing scenes.
  10. Different Ending - A different version of the post credits fat White than that used in the film itself.

Alternate Ending (1:18)

    According to the optional director's commentary, this is the way he wanted it to end but the studio wouldn't go for it..

Featurette - Dodgeball Boot Camp : Training for Dodgeball (3:28)

    A short featurette about the painful training they went through to get proficient at Dodgeball including interviews with the cast and stunt co-ordinator. Also includes training footage.

Featurette - The Anatomy of a Hit (3:25)

    Another short featurette about why hitting people with a ball is funny and which parts of the body are funniest.

Featurette - Justin Long : A Study in Ham & Cheese (3:25)

    3 minutes of Justin Long improvising and different takes of scenes which are in the movie. Funny.

Featurette - Dodgeball : Go For The Gold (1:21)

    Vince Vaughan and Ben Stiller talking up why dodgeball should be an Olympic Sport.

Featurette - More With the Dodgeball Dancers

    Comprises an introduction by the director (0:13) and three separate exotic dance routines by the dancers, ah-hem. They are

Bloopers / Gag Reel (2:55)

    A better than average set of stuff-ups and mistakes. Quite funny.

Weblink

    A one page advertisement for the Fox website.

Easter Egg 1 - Commentary by Writer/Director, Rawson Marshall Thurber

    This is a 'proper' commentary by the director on his own, which is fairly serious and reasonably interesting. Covers development of the project, working on the script, casting, set design, shooting, editing choices, audience testing, anecdotes, influences and references included in the film. He tends to lapse into describing what is going on on the screen from time to time. A decent commentary but not great. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) pressing right on the commentary menu to highlight the twinkle in White's teeth. Hit enter and you get a short scene from the film followed by the commentary.

Easter Egg 2 - Commentary by Writer/Director, Rawson Marshall Thurber and stars Vince Vaughan & Ben Stiller

    This is the best of the three commentaries which is a mixture of useful information and a variety of jokes and anecdotes (some I would guess apocryphal). They spend a lot of time making fun of each other and referring to the Fox commentary guidelines, especially when they break them. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) pressing the down arrow from the bottom of the special features menu which highlights the cobra. Pressing enter gives you a short scene from the film followed by this commentary.

Easter Egg 3 - Featurette on Director Rawson Marshall Thurber (4:31)

    This is actually 4:31 of the rest of the cast slagging off the director and him going on about how wonderful he is. Obviously, it is meant to be taken as a joke and is quite amusing. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) accessing the Languages menu and then hitting the left arrow while English is highlighted.

Easter Egg 4 - Full advertisement for Globo Gym (2:33)

    This is the complete advertisement for Globo Gym which is played on a  big screen in the gym during the opening sequence. It's a bit repetitive and not that funny. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) accessing the alternate ending menu and then hitting the right arrow whilst highlighting the selection Special Features.

Easter Egg 5 - White calling you a nerd for finding this Easter Egg (0:11)

    Fat White calling you a nerd. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) going to the second screen on featurettes and pressing the right arrow while highlighting the selection Special Features.

Easter Egg 6 - Extended Scene from The Dirty Sanchez (0:45)

    An extended scene from the film including an appearance by Ben Stiller's production partner. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) pressing left from the Deleted Scenes selection on the Special Features menu.

Easter Egg 7 - Justin Long cavorting with the car wash models (0:19)

    A short scene of Justin Long and the car wash girls. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) going up from the Featurettes menu which shows outlines of women. Then hit enter.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 2 & Region 4 releases of this film are the same. The Region 1 version is quite different. 

    The Region 2 & 4 versions of this disc do NOT include;

    The Region 1 version of this disc does NOT include;

    The Region 4 release is clearly better than the Region 1 release.

Summary

    A very amusing comedy about a little known sport called Dodgeball starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughan.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has a large selection of extras and 7 Easter Eggs.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Friday, February 25, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output
DisplaySony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC).
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersBose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub)

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