Dodgeball

Guide Note

The 2004 comedy film Dodgeball follows a small gym owner who enters a dodgeball tournament to earn the money to save his gym from foreclosure.

Fast Facts

1. Stars: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Rip Torn
2. Written/Directed: Rawson Marshall Thurber
3. Budget: $20 million
4. Release Date: September 18, 2004
5. DVD contains hidden feature
6. Grossed over $25 million
7. Tag line: "Grab life by the balls."

Peter LaFleur, played by Vince Vaughn, runs Average Joe's Gym, a local alternative to the big chain gyms. The gym is less than profitable and Peter learns that the company has gone into foreclosure. White Goodman, played by Ben Stiller, owner of the large chain, Globo-Gym has purchased the second mortgage on Average Joe's. Peter must raise $50,000 in 30 days or his rival White takes over Average Joe's. Working off a suggestion from a gym member, Peter constructs a team and they enter the National Dodge Ball Tournament, which gives the winner a cash prize of $50,000. White hears of this plan and assembles his own Globo-Gym team and enters the tournament as well.

1. "I found that if you have a goal, you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed." —White Goodman
2. "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." —White Goodman
3. "I earned this body, and I built this temple with nothing more than some elbow grease and a little can-do attitude... and yes, a large inheritance from my father, Earl Goodman." —Peter LaFleur
4. "Just remember the five D's of dodgeball: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and... Dodge." —Patches O'Houlihan, dodgeball legend