Plot Summary: A lackadaisical gym owner (Vince Vaughn) is surrounded by a former star (Rip Torn) and a cast of misfits seeking to save his gym from a vile rival gym owner (Ben Stiller).
Cast:
Vince Vaughn as Peter "Pete" LaFleur
Christine Taylor as Katherine "Kate" Veatch
Ben Stiller as White Goodman
Rip Torn as Patches O'Houlihan
Hank Azaria as young Patches
Justin Long as Justin Redman
Stephen Root as Gordon Pibb
Alan Tudyk as "Pirate" Steve Cowan
Joel David Moore as Owen Dittman
Chris Williams as Dwight Baumgarten
Missi Pyle as Fran Stalinovskovichdaviddivichski
Jamal Duff as Me'Shell Jones
Gary Cole as Cotton McKnight
Jason Bateman as Pepper Brooks
*Recognition: 2004 ESPY Awards - Best Sports Movie – Nominated; 2005 MTV Movie Awards - Best Comedic Performance, Ben Stiller – Nominated; Best On-Screen Team (Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Alan Tudyk, Stephen Root, Joel Moore and Chris Williams) – Nominated; and Best Villain, Ben Stiller – Won; 25th Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor, Ben Stiller (Also for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Along Came Polly, Envy, and Starsky & Hutch [all 2004]) – Nominated
Did You Know:
Justin Long's eyebrow was actually cut open by the first wrench thrown at him. All the wrenches thrown were made of rubber, but the first was harder than all of the others.
Many studios, including DreamWorks Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, passed on this movie. 20th Century Fox finally agreed when Ben Stiller reduced his salary to well under $1 million. As of March 2005, the movie has grossed over $124 million, when it only cost $23 million to make.
Gary Cole and Jason Bateman had to keep redoing their voice recordings for the dodgeball matches, because everyone kept changing stuff in the screenplay during the shoots.
The original title of this movie was simply "Underdog".
Patton Oswalt did the Foley work (voice) for the scene where Ben Stiller is having his "'private time' ...with sour cream on top..." He also voiced the video store clerk calling about the three overdue videos at the movie's beginning.
Norm MacDonald can be seen in some of the Globo Gym scenes; one is in the Globo Gym commercial, where he is in the background working out. At one point, he is talking to some girl who is working out, and this looks like he is hitting on her.
Brigitte Nielsen was briefly considered for the role of Fran.
What is this movie is about?/Elevator Pitch: An apathetic gym owner fights back against the bigger Mega-Gym owner who is trying to buy him out by winning a Dodgeball Tournament.
Best Performance: Ben Stiller (White Goodman)
Best Secondary Performance: Stephen Root (Gordon)
Most Charismatic Award: Rip Torn (Patches O'Houlihan)
Best Scene:
Car Wash
Opening Infomercial
Morning at Average Joe's Gym
Uber American Films
Regional Qualifying Match
Costume Switch
White at Kate's
Gordo Get Mad?!
If you Can Dodge a Wrench
Thank you, Chuck Norris
Lance Armstrong
Continuation Rule 113D
Favorite Scene: If you Can Dodge a Wrench/Gordo Get Mad?!
Most Indelible Moment: Uber American Films/Patches O'Houlihan
In Memorium: Robert Olkewicz (Seinfeld, Cheers, ER, Future World)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines: (29 nominees, I must love this movie)
Patches O'Houlihan: If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
White Goodman: We're better than you, and we know it!
White Goodman: Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. NOBODY!
White Goodman: Here at Globo Gym we understand that ugliness and fatness are genetic disorders, like baldness or necrophilia, and it's your fault if you don't hate yourself enough to do something about it.
Peter LaFleur: Thank you, Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris: No, thank you, Peter.
Peter La Fleur: Hang on a second. You wanna become a cheerleader to prove you are not a loser?
Justin: Yeah. Why?
Peter La Fleur: Nothing. High school's changed a bit since I was a kid.
Patches O'Houlihan: Remember the 5 D's of dodgeball: Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, and uh...Dodge!
Peter La Fleur: I found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya... it feels phenomenal.
Kate Veach: Well I guess that makes sense, in a really sad way.
Patches O'Houlihan: It's like watching a bunch of retards trying to hump some doorknobs out there.
Dwight: We're still missing the teenage love puppy and Steve the Pirate.
Owen: Who's Steve the Pirate?
Dwight: The only guy on our team that dresses like a pirate!
Owen: Wait, there's a guy on our team who dresses like a pirate?
Patches O'Houlihan: You're about as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop!
Peter LaFleur: Hey, White. White Goodman: Yeah? Peter LaFleur: You look awful fat in those pants.
Gordon: L for Love...
Owen: Maybe we could pay it off in Canadian Dollars and save ourselves some money!
White Goodman: We should Mate. Kate Veach: What? White Goodman: Date! We should date some time. Socially. Go out and kick it. Kate Veach: Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
White Goodman: In some cultures, they only eat vomit. I never been there, but I read about it... in a book.
Peter LaFleur: [at the bar] Oh hey White, I didnt know Nazi camp got out until 8... did you decide to skip arts and craft?
White Goodman: Yes I Did!!!!
White Goodman: That's me, White. W-H-I-T... E.
Kate Veach: Don't worry Justin that guy is a jerk.
Dwight: Yeah, he'll probably fall off the roller coaster and break every bone in his body.
Kate Veach: Nice, Dwight...
Dwight: I'm just saying my cousin, boop! Dead.
Owen: I'm gonna catch up with you guys later. I'm gonna have a bathroom... go to the drink... in the bathroom.
Dwight: Whatever you do, wash your hands.
White Goodman: Oh, I don't think I'm a lot dumber than you think that I thought that I thought I was once.
White Goodman: Donde está la biblioteca, Pedro?
Peter La Fleur: White?
White Goodman: We're opening a new Globo Gym in Mexico City, so I've been boning up on my Spanish.
White Goodman: You're going down like a sweet muffin!
Cotton McKnight: Las Vegas. A city built of hot sand, broken dreams and $5 lobster. A city where you can get a happy ending, if you pay a little extra. A city home to a sporting event greater than the World Cup, World Series and World War II combined.
Cotton McKnight: Average Joe's has a tough job, facing the Lumberjacks. These woodsmen probably haven't even smelled a woman in eight months.
Pepper Brooks: They must masturbate a lot, Cotton.
Cotton McKnight: I'm being told that Average Joe's does not have enough players and will be forfeiting the championship match.
Pepper Brooks: It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.
Cotton McKnight: In 23 years of broadcasting I thought I'd seen it all, folks. But it looks like Peter La Fleur has actually blindfolded himself.
Pepper Brooks: He will not be able to see very well, Cotton.
Cotton McKnight: Looks like it's gonna be a two-on-one, a ménage à trois of pain.
Pepper Brooks: Usually you pay double for that kind of action, Cotton.
Cotton McKnight: It looks like the clock is about to strike midnight on this Cinderella story, turning Average Joe's into the proverbial pumpkin.
Pepper Brooks: I sure do like pumpkins, Cotton.
Cotton McKnight: Let me tell you, a double-fault final-play elimination hasn't occurred since the Helsinki episode of 1919, and I think we all remember how THAT turned out!
Patches O'Houlihan: Necessary? Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? Peter LaFleur: Probably not. Patches O'Houlihan: No, but I do it anyway because it's sterile and I like the taste.
Patches O'Houlihan: Come on! I've got better runs in my shorts!
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 5
Impact/Significance: 5.25
Novelty: 4.25
Classic-ness: 5
Rewatchability: 10
Audience Score: 8.2 (88% Google, 76% RT)
Total: 37.7
Remaining Questions:
Was Owen gaslighting Dwight about Steve the Pirate?
Is William Shatner playing himself playing the Dodgeball Commissioner?
Why did White offer the buyout? Did he think they were going to lose, and he needed the insurance to get an auxilary parking structure for his gym? If the whole thing is about a personal vendetta between the two, isn't handing Peter $100k kind of a little undermining of your motive?