Sept. 13: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

"A group of misfits enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament in order to save their cherished local gym from the onslaught of a corporate health fitness chain."

Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber, Rated: PG-13, 92 minutes

Dodgeball is a movie that's fun to watch on TV whenever it pops up. It's nothing you necessarily want to seek out, but it's a nice way to kill 90 minutes when you have nothing else to do. It's a comedy that would have benefited a lot with an R-rating and I think it's inability to really "grab life by the ball" and go all out really hinders the film. Yes, it's funny, yes, it's great seeing Ben Stiller in a role similar to his role in Heavyweights, and yes, it has Vince Vaughn doing a good job, but the story is just a little too all over the place and downright stupid to consider this a comedy classic. One thing it does, however, is make you really, really want to play adult dodgeball, join a league, and kick some ass. 

Yes, please. 

The film follows Peter (Vaughn), the owner of a dilapidated, near-bankrupt gym called Average Joes. The place is a hangout for a bunch of 'losers' and a nice play for them to turn when life slaps them in the face. Across the street at Global Gym, White Goodman (Stiller), is obsessed with being fit, looking good, and surrounding himself with only attractive people. Global Gym is a place no one but steroid-juicing man-things would work out and has the completely opposite mission statement than Average Joe's. After Goodman threatens to buy the property Average Joe's is on, Peter must come up with $50,000 by the end of the month to save his place from going into foreclosure. Of course, it being a movie and all, it just so happens that the national dodgeball championship is just about to begin, with the prize totally $50,000. So Average Joe's creates a team, led by Vaughn, that includes the like of Justin Long, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, and Stiller's real life wife, Christine Taylor. They enter the tournament under the tutelage of Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), a hall of fame dodge ball player. Not the man to just sit down and take it, Goodman starts his own team and enters the tourney as well. Chaos, dodging, dipping, diving, ducking, and more dodging ensues, and both teams work their way to the somewhat climactic match in the finals. 

Bizarre but entertaining, Rip Torn makes Patches even...weirder?

It's in the ridiculously formulaic plot that Dodgeball loses itself. Every "twist" in the plot you see coming from miles away and the obvious match-up in the final is too 'eh' to really care about. Along with the weak plot, none of the characters are worth cheering for. Vince Vaughn phones in his performance, only showing the smallest bits of improvisation genius and Ben Stiller has his moments, but he's just too over-the-top. I will admit, I did laugh a lot throughout the film, more so at the supporting cast, like Stephen Root's weirdo-sometimes Hulk-angry 'family man', Alan Tudyk's pirate obsessing Steve, and Jason Bateman's even weirder Pepper, the ESPN 8 announcer who commentates each match. The best part of the film is the actual dodgeball games, with each match having it's own ridiculously awesome theme-teams, from The Lumberjacks, to The Kamikazes. However, each of these teams are on screen for just a few moments and never given a real chance to not only play dodgeball, but show off their unique skills. 

Too much, Ben... too much.

Even with its flaws, Dodgeball is still entertaining as a whole. As I mentioned, it's a good movie to catch on TV when you're bored, but it's nothing worth seeking out. Overall, it's rather disappointing in its execution and story, but its moments that are funny, are hilarious. It also puts a highlight on an awesome sport that can only be 1000x more fun as an adult than it was in high school. I saw this film a long time ago and really loved it, but after re-watching it I'm sure that it's nowhere as good as I remember. Either way, watch it if you want, or go find yourself a red ball that throw it at someone's face. Both are fun... kind of. 

The Good:

showcasing a sport that looks so much fun with a tad pit of humor thrown in here and there

The Bad:

two main characters that are not the most likable, with Vaughn not committing 100% to the role and Stiller committing well over 100%

The Ugly:

a plot that is just too lacking and messy, never knowing where to go 

Overall: 6.7/10

Trailer:

Aug 11: Accepted

"A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown."

Directed by: Steve Pink, Rated: PG-13, 90 minutes

Accepted is a stupid, but very fun comedy that's saved by it's incredibly likable cast. The plot is ridiculous, never even trying to be anything smart and cops out with an even more ridiculous ending. Even then, though, Accepted is very fun and has too much likability, one-liners, and smart improvisation to hate. It also creates one hell of a fake college that would be so fun to attend, even though every bit of it screams "illegal". 

The film also features dozens upon dozens of Apple product placement. Because you know...  

Bartleby (Justin "I'm a Mac" Long) is a slacker who "just got by" in high school. After several attempts at applying for colleges that all resulted in rejection, he decides to create a fake college in an attempt to fool his parents and buy more time until he can get into a real school. Unfortunately, his friend, Schroder (Jonah "I Once Was Huuuge" Hill), makes the fake website all too real, and Bartleby and his friends have hundreds of prospective students showing up to their fake campus. They decide to just go with it and try to make the school something worthwhile, turning the curriculum into a student-driven idea and having classes such as "Rocking Your Face Off 101" and "Walking Around and Thinking About Stuff". Of course, nothing gold can stay and Bartleby and his friends find themselves in hot water as their lies are exposed. Accepted throws in a couple of subplots to the mix, but its still lacking any substance. Schroder does whatever it takes to join a prestigious fraternity at a "rival school", even going about dressing in a hot dog costume and telling people to "Ask me about my weiner!". And Bartleby tries his hardest to win the affection of Monica (Blake "I Can't Stop Pouting" Lively), a life-long crush, even if it means only earning the affection after spending thousands on a camera so she can "find her artistic self".

Even when she's surprised (or angry), Blake manages to pout it up. 

As was previously mentioned, Accepted is good because of the cast. Long and Hill, especially, steal many of their scenes with bits of genius improvisation you can tell were made up on the fly. A large portion of the film was actually unscripted and while it creates some hilarious moments, you can't help but wonder how bad the story suffers because of this fact. The film tries very hard to channel its inner Animal House but when you walk away with just a PG-13 rating, there's a lot that's left desired. It's an interesting thought wondering how good Accepted could have been if it "embraced the raunch" and pushed the limits. 

PG-13 Rating: Disappointing teenage hormones since 1984. 

Even with it's flaws (there are plenty), Accepted is fun and worth a watch. It's nothing you need to track down, as it's on TV all the time, but worth watching on a rainy day or when you're looking for some easy, stupid laughs. Accepted can be looked back on one of the first starring vehicles for Long and Hill, and without it, we probably wouldn't be seeing Long popping up everywhere or even have the 2nd half of Superbad. If anything, you can remember Accepted as the movie review I used the most (and most "unnecessary") quotation marks and parentheses. 

The Good:

Justin Long and Jonah Hill doing their best at improvising and trying their hardest to save an otherwise flat film

The Bad:

a script that lacks any shape or destination and simply chugs along and ends with ridiculous laziness

The Ugly:

some people like him, but I cannot stand Lewis Black and his presence in the film is too irritating to enjoy

Overall: 6.8/10

Trailer: