Ben Stiller has done it again! He has created a timeless cult character that will forever be immortalized by television and film with his various catch-phrases and idiotic persona. Globex gym, a giant among giant in the fitness world, is commanded by an egocentric, womanizing, caffeine-crazed dynamo named White (Stiller).

Every year all across the country various groups combine forces to face one another in a no-holds-barred dodgeball tournament held in Las Vegas. With the inevitable fate of bankruptcy, the Average Joe?s gym members along with friend and owner (Vince Vaughn) decided to enter as a team to compete and hopefully win the $50,000 cash prize in the hopes of saving their precious gym from the evil clutches of Globex.

The Globex Gym is a monster-sized fitness center that is the Goliath to Vaughn?s David. When the threat of a Globex takeover is in play, White and LaFleur (Vaughn), become rival enemies both professional and ultimately athletically, thus leading us to the Dodgeball court. With an excellent supporting cast (Stephen Root, Rip Torn, etc…) and a slew of A-list cameos (which I will not divulge for it was too funny) Dodgeball?s random humor and zany antics tend to resemble the popular animated television show Family Guy. Not since Stiller dawned the spandex of the insane camp counselor Tony Perkis (Heavyweights) a decade ago have I seen a character with such magnetism.

Stiller needed to break free for at least one movie of the typical typecasting that he and Owen Wilson have been sharing for the last several years onscreen. Combined with Vaughn?s hilarious subtle humor which gets better with every film, we may see more from this duo to come. Let us hope that Will Ferrell enters the picture at some time or another (i.e. Zoolander, Starsky and Hutch).

Bottom Line: If you are a fan of similar Stiller films such as Zoolander and Heavyweights then Dodgeball is the movie to see this summer. I found it to be the funniest film of the year thus far and definitely the best that Stiller has had to offer after so many recent flops.

A-/B+






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