DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

"Grab life by the ball."

2004 1h 32m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 3,976

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When megalomaniacal White Goodman, the owner of a trendy, high-end fitness center, makes a move to take over the struggling local gym run by happy-go-lucky Pete La Fleur, there's only one way for La Fleur to fight back: dodgeball. Aided by a dodgeball guru and Goodman's attorney, La Fleur and his rag-tag team of underdogs launch a knock-down, drag-out battle in which the winner takes all.

“Grab life by the ball.”

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Cast

Vince Vaughn
Peter La Fleur
Christine Taylor
Kate Veatch
Ben Stiller
White Goodman
Rip Torn
Patches O'Houlihan
Justin Long
Justin
Stephen Root
Gordon
Joel David Moore
Owen
Chris Williams
Dwight

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Writers: Joe Griffith, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Chris Buchinsky
Languages: English, German
Countries: United States of America, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 8.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

205+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, shot by Jerzy Zieliński. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Theodore Shapiro. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Alan Baumgarten shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rawson Marshall Thurber directs. Jerzy Zieliński behind the camera. Theodore Shapiro scores. Alan Baumgarten cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Germany. Dialogue in English, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 8.4× over at the box office.
2Released 22 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Germany.
5205+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, shot by Jerzy Zieliński. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Theodore Shapiro. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Alan Baumgarten shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Vince Vaughn and Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Grab life by the ball.".
11IMDB entry: tt0364725 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 33 themes, including "underdog", "sports", "love at first sight", "competition".
13Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jerzy Zieliński
Original score: Theodore Shapiro
Editing: Alan Baumgarten
Production design: Maher Ahmad
Costume design: Carol Ramsey
Makeup / hair: Linda Flowers
VFX supervisor: John Coats
Stunt coordinator: Alex Daniels
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $168,423,227
Return: 842% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

Awards

MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Rawson Marshall Thurber

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2020-09-15
★ 8/10
Really good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. I forgot how well this movie holds up. Now, I'm not a fan of Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller (most of the time), but, being objective, this is a pretty funny movie with a good plot to it. It has problems besides casting, but most of those are over in a blink and we're back to the movie. This is a movie that leans on ridiculous humor, and everyone pretty much stays in their lane with quirks and motivations, and while the abuse humor of Justin Long pushes my boundaries of entertainment, Vaughn's lazy character work breaks it. I'd say it was a problem with the writing, but the delivery is sloppy even for someone playing a lazy character: the character is someone who knows what needs to get done and can't be bothered to do work, not someone who is too lazy to do what he can do. Ben Stiller is over the top, but that's a combination of how the character is written and Stiller's delivery: I clearly don't like the character concept, but without him being an overly nice / secretly evil guy, I'm don't have a real suggestion there. I'm sure you can make similar arguments for any given character, but the movie is actually so well produced, overall well written, and the performances are funny enough to distract from "problems" that if you just relax and watch this movie, you'll probably be laughing all the way up to "My Milkshake By's All the Boys to the Yard".
The Movie Mob2022-11-20
★ 9/10
Dodgeball knows it’s a ludicrous nonsensical laugh fest and embraces all its ridiculous charm to become one of the best sports comedies of all time. Dodgeball is one of the funniest, most outrageous movies in existence and is one of my favorite comedies (and sports movies?) of all time! This movie just had every actor in their sweet spot. White Goodman is peak Ben Stiller. Vaughn, Long, and Taylor each feel at home in their roles, and Alan Tudyk’s Steve the Pirate steals the scene every time. Each and every moment of this movie is zany, goofy, and insane, making Dodgeball a quintessential 2000s comedy. Dodgeball gifts the world with hilarious lines to be quoted repeatedly, Chuck Norris gifs, and laughs that keep going long after the movie ends. Plenty of people might disagree, but Dodgeball will forever be one of the best movies of the 2000s and maybe eternity… ok, let’s stick with the 2000s.
CinemaSerf2024-07-24
★ 6/10
Ben Stiller's "Goodman" is the epitome of a big time corporate America obsessed with keeping the country fit. "Peter" (Vince Vaughn) is pretty much the opposite as his small time local gym is on the brink of collapse. If he can't find $50,000 in double quick time then it's curtains. The only way they can maybe raise the money is to win a dodgeball tournament but when "Goodman" discovers this plucky plan, he establishes a team of his own and battle lines are drawn. Of course one team has unlimited resources whilst the other can barely afford to turn the lights on. They do have a secret weapon though - and that's the legendary "Patches O'Houlihan" (Rip Torn) who agrees to come and turn his enthusiastic collection of misfits into a cohesive and winning unit. Now there's not the least jeopardy here: it's just a rehash of the David and Goliath story with some dangerous looking ball skills thrown in. Fans of Stiller will probably love it, but I never really was one of those. I found his style of comedy way too in-your-face and not in the least subtle and after a few games with this big red weapon of body-mass destruction, I got a bit bored. It's tempered with a tiny bit of romance thanks to "Kate" (Christine Taylor) who'd also like to see "Goodman" with some egg on his face but the predictability of the whole film made it quite a long ninety minutes for me with Vaughn adding little to enliven the proceedings. It's very quickly paced and is obviously trying to be screwball but once we've met the characters it just becomes too processional. Nah.