Film

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

Name: DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2004
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, Rip Torn, Justin Long

Comedy
Light-hearted

A gleefully stupid underdog sports comedy that pits Vince Vaughn's shambling gym rats against Ben Stiller's spray-tanned bodybuilding tyrant in a winner-takes-all dodgeball tournament. It's broad, quotable, cameo-stuffed (Chuck Norris, David Hasselhoff) and proudly dumb in the best mid-2000s way. Good for a night when you want jokes about wrenches to the face and nothing resembling nutrition.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love broad, gleefully silly comedy built on deadpan commitment, where a cast going all-in on ridiculous characters and sharp one-liners matters more than plot logic, much like Anchorman.

Skip it if you want comedy that stays grounded or rarely goes over the top, since the jokes are loud, repetitive and happy to pile on the slapstick for its full ninety-odd minutes.

What it asks of you: It runs about ninety-two minutes and asks you to accept an absurd premise without fuss, then keep up with a fast stream of gags that land at uneven rates.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Zoolander2001

Ben Stiller's other great idiot-villain vehicle, this time playing the moron instead of the megalomaniac. Same commitment to absurdity, same willingness to make its lead look ridiculous for the joke.

But The fashion-world satire is dated and some jokes have aged badly, particularly around gender and disability humor.

Old School2003

Vince Vaughn doing his loose, riffing, half-improvised thing alongside Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson, in a comedy that's basically Dodgeball's frat-house cousin.

But Very much a product of early-2000s bro comedy, and the midlife-crisis premise hasn't aged into anything more interesting than it was.

Kingpin1996

A Farrelly Brothers underdog-sports comedy with the same gleeful cruelty and cartoonish villain energy, this time transplanted to bowling with Woody Harrelson and a hilariously vile Bill Murray.

But Gross-out gags land harder or softer depending on your tolerance for 90s bad taste; not everyone's stomach for it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters2007

Same underdog-versus-arrogant-champion structure and absurd-competition setting, but true, which makes the satire in Dodgeball look almost restrained by comparison.

A documentary about competitive Donkey Kong that plays exactly like Dodgeball's plot performed by real people: a hapless underdog challenger, an insufferable smug champion, a ridiculous subculture taking itself deadly seriously.

But It's a documentary with no comic exaggeration cushioning the cruelty — the villain here is a real person, which changes how funny it feels to laugh.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters poster

Major League1989

The granddaddy template: hopeless team, ridiculous owner scheme, foul-mouthed misfits pulling together. Funnier and more character-driven than most sports comedies that followed it.

But Baseball-specific jokes and 80s references may not land if you don't know or care about the sport.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby2006

Will Ferrell's NASCAR fable has the same commitment to a stupid premise played completely straight, with a rival almost as gloriously camp as White Goodman.

But Ferrell's shtick is an acquired taste, and the film runs long for a joke this simple.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby poster

Semi-Pro2008

Ferrell again, this time as a delusional ABA basketball owner-player, in a comedy that leans just as hard into 70s absurdity and team-of-losers charm.

But Widely considered a step down from his other sports comedies — some good bits stretched thin over a saggy plot.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy2004

Same year, same comedy ecosystem, same commitment to full-tilt stupidity from a cast who clearly know exactly how dumb they're being.

But More quote-machine than plot, and its news-desk satire is thinner than its jokes suggest.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy poster

Wedding Crashers2005

Vaughn back in his natural habitat, fast-talking and improvising alongside Owen Wilson, if you want more of exactly what made him fun in Dodgeball.

But Rom-com plotting eventually takes over from the comedy, and the back half gets sappier than the setup promises.

The Sandlot1993

A gentler, more nostalgic underdog-team story, but the scrappy-misfits-vs-the-world shape is identical, just with more heart and fewer wrenches to the face.

But Family-friendly and sentimental where Dodgeball is crude — a real tonal switch if you came for the raunch.

The Bad News Bears1976

This is the ancestor of every scrappy-underdog-team comedy since, Dodgeball included; it's harsher, funnier in a meaner way, and shows where the formula came from.

The mean, foul-mouthed original template for the ragtag-team-of-losers sports comedy — Walter Matthau as a drunk coaching a Little League team of misfits nobody else wanted.

But Genuinely un-PC by today's standards — kids swearing and smoking on screen — and its cynicism has little of Dodgeball's cartoonish softness.

Shaolin Soccer2001

Both turn a sport into an excuse for cartoonish physical comedy and impossible trick shots — same engine, different national comedy tradition and a lot more wire-fu.

A Hong Kong action-comedy where disgraced kung fu masters use martial arts to win soccer matches, with the same slapstick-violence-as-sport gag taken even further into physical absurdity.

But Subtitled, wildly over-the-top even by Dodgeball standards, and its humor leans on visual gags and genre parody that may feel unfamiliar.