MYST #1: Dodgeball

I saw Dodgeball for the first time when it came out back in 2004 and it was one of my favorite movies. Due to the fact that I was nine years old when I first saw it, I didn't really understand some of the humor and jokes, yet I still found it to be hilarious. I noticed that Dodgeball was on TV the other day and I watched it. It was even better than I remembered. Almost every scene in this movie makes me laugh and I think this is the best i've ever seen from Ben Stiller. Stiller's character "White Goodman" is a selfish, cocky, and ridiculous character who gets even crazier as the movie goes on. 

I think almost all teenagers and young adults have seen this movie because it was so popular when it was first released. The movie is about a man named Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) who owns a gym called "Average Joe's." White Goodman, the owner of a rival gym wants to buy and takeover La Fleur's gym and the only way that Peter can save his gym is by raising a lot of money. To earn this money, Peter and a few of his friends assemble a dodgeball team and attempt to enter a national dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas. They receive coaching and help from "famous" dodgeball coach, Patches O'Houllihan. With Patches' help they are able to make it into the tournament and get to the final round. In the final round they are set to play against the Purple Cobras, White Goodman's team, but before the match, La Fleur sells Average Joe's Gym to White for $100,000. Later, however, the Average Joe's win the tournament and you learn that Peter bet on his team to win the match and he ends up winning five million dollars. Peter then uses this money to buy Goodman's gym and takeover the business, sending White into despair and ultimately obesity. 

I really like this movie and even though its just a made-up and kind of stupid comedy movie I think it was very well done. I think the characters in this movie were the best part of the film because each character is so unique. Stiller's character, "White," is very cocky and selfish and he thinks that everything is about him and he pretty much thinks he is the best person to ever walk the Earth. He gives stupid and ridiculous comebacks that make no sense and overall he is just a crazy and hilarious character. Vince Vaughn's character, "Peter," is a very down to Earth, modest guy that runs a gym called "Average Joe's." He is pretty much the exact opposite of White and he beats White in the dodgeball tournament and ultimately takes over his business. All of the other characters were pretty ridiculous including "Steve" who thinks he is a pirate, "Fran" the female Russian dodgeball player, and many more. 

My favorite scene in this movie is when dodgeball coach Patches O'Houllihan tells the Average Joe's team that "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball," and he begins throwing wrenches at all of the players. I think this scene is one of the funniest in any movie I have ever seen. He then goes on to tell them that if you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball, and the middle-aged, overweight "Gordon" from the Average Joe's team runs into traffic, only to get hit by one car and then as he is telling the team he is okay he immediately gets hit by another. ]

I would give this movie a 9/10 and I recommend that anyone who has not seen this movie or has not seen it in a while should watch it. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard watching a movie and it is certainly one of my favorite comedies of all time.