Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: 20th Century Fox
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: 93 minutes
Chapters: 22
Size: 50 GB
Case: Standard Amaray Blu-ray case
Release date: December 9, 2008
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35;1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC @ 34 Mbps
Audio:
English DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1; Spanish & French Dolby
Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English SDH, Spanish, Korean, Cantonese & Mandarin
Extras:
• Audio Commentary by Director Thurber & Actors Vince Vaughn
& Ben Stiller
• Dodgeball Boot Camp: Training for Dodgeball (3:27)
• The Anatomy of a Hit (3:25)
• Justin Long: A Study in Ham & Cheese (3:34)
• Dodgeball: Go for the Gold (1:20)
• More with the Dodgeball Dancers (2:29)
• Deleted Scenes (12:02)
• Bloopers & Gag Reel (3:02)
The Film:
5
DodgeBall can't quite make up its mind if it wants to
be a raunch in the park or a heartwarming comedy and
therefore doesn't quite succeed at either. Vince Vaughn and
Ben Stiller are the owners of personal fitness gyms across
the street from each other. They could hardly be thought of
as competing since Vince has an attitude to success that
would make "who cares" a step up. "Average Joe's" has maybe
a half dozen regulars – all out of shape losers of one sort
or another. Ben's "Globo Gym" is high tech and just bursting
with pumped up hard bodies, while Ben's ad campaign is an
exercise in self-parody.
Vince is paid a visit by attorney Christine Taylor who
informs him that he has 30 days to pay $50,000 or his
business goes into foreclosure. He has a meet with his
regulars to figure out how they can stay in business and
they hit upon the idea of competing in the annual Dodgeball
Tournament in Las Vegas. The prize: $50,000. Natch. Of
course, none of these guys can throw or catch. Enter:
Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn) who famously made a children's
educational film in the 1950s on the fine points of
dodgeball (one of the funnier bits in the movie). With his
help, and Christine's, who joins the team out of disgust
with Stiller they march on to Vegas where Ben has organized
his Nazi troopers into a merciless opposing force.
Ah, Ben Stiller, playing here a character we love to hate –
so full of himself that if he were any more so he would
explode – as he somehow doesn't do when he inflates the
crotch of his training pants. Ben is amazingly buff here,
and I kept wondering if it was just makeup – real or CG. In
fact, his character is a serious overeater that torments
himself with plates of food while hooked up to an
electroshock device. Very droll.
Rawson Thurber's writing feels like rough drafts of could
have been a pretty good comedy - I have to admit the
situations are pretty funny. But there is precious little
character motivation, even for comedy: The reasons offered
for Ben to have the level of animosity that he has toward
Vince are more like jokes than explanations - a problem that
could have been cured by their being stepbrothers, for
example. Nor does Thurber offer any explanation for why
Christine Taylor's character warms up to Average Joe's, and
Vince in particular. She is, after all, hot and successful,
and it isn't like Vince and Ben are the only men who are
hitting on her. Thurber brings supporting characters in only
to tease us and then neglects them. The raunchy stuff occurs
mostly at the beginning of the movie, for if it were later
it would seem out of place. So make sure the beer and pizza
is already out before you start the movie.
Image:
8/9
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Dodgeball comes with a high bit rate, the image is solid,
with no worrisome artifacts or blemishes. Sharpness is very
good, especially when the camera caresses all those hard
bodies at the Globo Gym or at the car wash. Color is fairly
natural, with good blacks and shadow detail.
Audio & Music:
8/7
Ah, the whack of the dodgeballs! – whether on their hapless
victims or against the floor and walls - the uncompressed
audio mix gets a great workout. Timbres of ball slaps and
shoe squeaks vary realistically. Dialog is crisp. Surrounds
come into play mostly during the tournament with audience
cheers and jeers and balls zipping by from various
directions – an excellent audio mix.
Operations:
6
One thing I am enjoying about Fox Blu-rays of late is that
we can get directly to the menu immediately upon seeing the
ATTENTION warning with a click of the Top Menu button. On
the other hand, with the number of 3-minute bonus items, a
Play All would have been nice.
Extras:
5
Aside from the amusing repartee between Stiller, Vaughn and
Thurber in Beavis & Butthead fashion on the commentary,
there's not a lot to go on here – and it's all in various
sizes and shapes, weak to strong, standard def.
Bottom line:
6
The comedy is low, though occasionally clever, but rarely
mean, despite Stiller's character. (The tournament is
covered by ESPN8. Their motto: "If it's almost a sport, we
have it here.") The romance is kept at arm's length. There
are a couple of unexpected celebrity appearances, in and out
of character. The blu-ray is definitely the way to go here
if this movie is for you: the image is clean and clear, the
audio is better than the movie deserves.
Leonard Norwitz
December 13th, 2008
