Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: June 18, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
13
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
PremierePeter Debruge
Take it from someone who can still feel the hollow rubber tang! of old dodgeball scars: It feels great to be blindsided by a little movie like this. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
If you hold a perverse soft spot in your heart for straight-to-video underdog junk like "Ski School," you're going to love Dodgeball. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Hilariously fake and rude. And thus true and tonic, if you know what I mean. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The movie's a treasure of small gems. Read full review
80
Village VoiceEd Park
Dodgeball is the most satisfying comedy of the past year--at least among the ones starring Stiller. Read full review
80
EmpireJames Dyer
Unpretentious, unsophisticated and all the better for it. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A blistering satire of feel-good sports movies, this film makes its mark via the most direct route: it lampoons by adopting the tried-and-true "straight" formula and tweaking it a little. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In a miraculous gift to the audience, 20th Century-Fox does not reveal all of the best gags in its trailer. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
There are some clunky, juvenile jokes and an excess of shots to that special place on men that make us double over and weep. But there are some very funny, very hip jokes as well. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Pointed and satiric. Best of all, one must hasten to admit, it's pretty funny. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Ben Stiller is like a guy on the 1919 White Sox. He's rigged to lose. His comedy is the stuff of failure, and sometimes it's pleasurable watching him flit around in funny get-ups, only to have a pretty costar put him down. Read full review
70
VarietyJoe Leydon
Gleefully commingles slapstick and scatology, satire and sentiment, in a free-wheeling farce aimed at making auds laugh until they're thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Strangely exhilarating. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber (the short "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker") keeps the jokes coming fast and furious, and while none of them are deep, many find their mark. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
It may not be original, but it's often shamelessly funny and more clever than I expected. Not much, mind you, but enough to catch me off guard with a few surprise throws. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Coach Torn adds to a palpably violent undertone by heaving wrenches at their heads and crotches, making The Three Stooges' poking and slapping look downright tame. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Nobody eviscerates the scary depths of male narcissism with such ferocity, and it is a huge relief to find Mr. Stiller flexing his oiled, low-comedy triceps with such vengeful glee. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The movie veers from cleverness to crass stupidity. You can never tell whether the next scene will induce loud laughter or contempt; for me, Dodgeball divided right down the middle. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
In Dodgeball, Vaughn is stuck playing the straight man to a collection of stooges, and he looks utterly bored doing it. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
There's a place in life for movies like this – goofy and lowbrow but never truly icky; the good guys are lovable losers and the bad guys have frosted feathered hair and unitards with inflatable codpieces. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
In outline, the story is pretty funny, and the film's outlandish takes on sports-movie conventions deliver some laughs. But Thurber chooses the low road to those laughs so often that he undermines his own satirical design. His actors certainly deliver amusing, spirited performances, but again, they get done in by relentless adolescent humor. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Much of Dodgeball feels competent but lazy. The nerds are barely distinguishable, except for one who thinks he's a pirate and says arghh a lot to no humorous effect. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Yes, the movie's watchable, and there are about six good laughs in it, but six good (not great) laughs in 90 minutes is pretty paltry for a comedy. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
As the WWF-style villain, Stiller misfires again and again, but Vaughn is reliably funny and Rip Torn has a great part as the underdogs' crotchety old coach. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Modestly amusing teen summer comedy. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
It's coarse, primitive, regressive, often very stupid, and sometimes, against all odds, really a hoot. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Mostly, Dodgeball just feels off--never consistently funny, but also never dire. It's as if Thurber resigned himself to making a dumb, formula-bound movie with a dusting of smart gags instead of a smart movie in dumb-movie clothes. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
For a while, Vaughn's slobbo guy charm and Stiller's creepy Flash Gordon aesthetic are amusing, but it isn't long before Vaughn looks like a Bill Murray disciple trapped among circus freaks, and Stiller runs out of weirdo tricks. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Be warned: The end credits contain a particularly nauseating image you'll wish you could delete from memory. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Stiller, a DodgeBall producer, is revealing an unfortunate craving for the cheese of his childhood. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
Anyone with a sizable role in Dodgeball gets mired in the script's dissipated tone. Two of the climactic jokes involve "Happy Days" references. How tenuous is that? Read full review
38
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Ben Stiller's overbearing schtick officially reaches its expiration date with the desperate and puerile Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Stiller strives to be a wild and wacky villain, Vaughn endeavors to be a likable and average hero, and both fall flat on their faces, like everything else in this unspeakably stupid comedy. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Mean-spirited vulgarity and homosexual panic. Read full review
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