Dodgeball and the Ben Stiller brand

Picture courtesy: Twentieth Century Fox

Caught Dodgeball on HBO last night and had a ball of a time. If you know the Ben Stiller brand of comedy, you know what you're going to get here.

There was very little of the 'yuck' stuff though. The story was, of course, quite predictable -- but who cares? Though this can be dismissed as yet another "Frat Pack" movie, one can notice the various layers the movie works at. Satire about various things like TV and sports is provided without much ado. If you care only about the comedy, that's fine too. The folks make fun of anything under the sun, including the last bit where a bloated Stiller is cynical about Hollywood formula. The movie was definitely better than Zoolander.

I was doubtful whether such a game actually exists and went and checked it out on the Web! The movie also has some special appearances including Chuck Norris and Lance Armstrong, though they weren't used well. But overall, the people involved knew what they were doing and there were no pretensions to be some kind of movie.

Stiller plays the villain's part (White Goodman) for a change, with a new appearance too. Vince Vaughn is the hero (Peter La Fleur). Of course, both heroism and villainy are quite diluted. Christine Taylor (Stiller's real-life beau) is the girl, but with a twist at the end. The supporting cast is filled with a lot of crazy-looking folks.

Ben Stiller has been fascinating me for long, though he hit big time only with There's Something About Mary. Not many know that he has directed many movies including the very off-beat Reality Bites, which seems very uncharacteristic now. His biography reveals his multi-faceted career a lot more.

PS:
Check out the movie's Web-site -- quite a few interesting things out there including 'White-isms'.