urbpan | mini-review of Dodgeball

First-time director Thurber manages to take a simple sports comedy and turn it into an incoherent mess. Amidst the half-dozen laughs are some misfires, some groaners and a ton of missed opportunities. A partial list of wasted resources includes first and foremost Vince Vaughn, who comes across like Bill Murray in "Meatballs," but has no material to work with. The list continues with an endless stream of celebrities wasted in cameos, an ensemble cast of capable TV actors (including "Firefly"'s Alan Tudyk, the brilliant Stephen Root of "NewsRadio," and even Jason Bateman of "Arrested Development") and the overused (but here underutilized) city of Las Vegas. And Ben Stiller...Ben Stiller...I used to look forward to seeing a movie if Ben Stiller was in it...*sigh.* The straight-faced inclusion of the phrases "Blumpkin" and "Dirty Sanchez" hint that this movie may best be enjoyed with a group of crude buddies and your favorite social lubricant. Kind of funny, but given how many resources were squandered, kind of a shame.

(Also-the dvd extras show that the happy ending was tacked on to the original anti-climax. It would have been a better, but even more incoherent movie if it had been left as is.)

2 stars on Netflix, 3 stars on movielens.umn.edu