Saturday, November 13, 2004

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Hi everyone!

At long last I am back from my trip to Rome and my 30 Day Retreat. It was awesome, especially the silence. Silence is a gift.

I went to see two new films today, and I will be writing about them, but first let me play "catch up" once again on recent films that I missed (blessedly) in theaters, but caught up with on the long flights to and from Rome.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was one big bark, like that of a dog howling under a full moon and starving. I thought that Vince Vaughn's acting as Peter, the owner of the gym about to go under financially, was so laid back that he was almost horizontal. The adolescent emphasis on male body parts isn't lost on anyone, least of all Ben Stiller as White Goodman, the wealthy owner of the chain of gyms about to buy up Peter's when it goes into foreclosure. Enter Kate, the lawyer for the bank who takes sides with Peter and his den of kind-hearted,  delusional athletes, especially Steve, who thinks he is a pirate and dresses and acts accordingly. Arrrgh!

Members of both gyms end up battling it out at a dodgeball contest in Vegas. Guess who wins?

For a film that had to be really low budget, there was one part that I thought was very thoughtful and gave me something good to take away from the quasi-agony of the viewing. When Steve the Pirate goes missing, I think it is the character Justin (or Gordon - can't recall) who doesn't even realize they have had a play-pirate on their team. Steve shows up just before the finale, hair cut and shaved - unrecognizeable to all except Justin who calls out, "There's Steve." He never saw the outward trappings of the pirate that Steve hid behind, but only the real person. Nice touch to an otherwise forgettable film.

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