Dodgeball: A True Underdog StoryMovie Reviews

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So-so

Avg. Critic Score: 55 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 13+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

83

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum
Hilariously fake and rude. And thus true and tonic, if you know what I mean. Read full review
80

Washington Post | Desson Thomson
The movie's a treasure of small gems. Read full review
75

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger 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
70

Variety | Joe 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
63

USA Today | Mike 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 Times | Stephen 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

Washington Post | Ann Hornaday
Modestly amusing teen summer comedy. Read full review
50

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick 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

The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk 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
10

Los Angeles Times | Manohla Dargis
Mean-spirited vulgarity and homosexual panic. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Think Bad News Bears crossed with Happy Gilmore.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this is meant to be silly fun -- teens and parents who love Adam Sandler-style humor will enjoy it very much. Those who don't should avoid it. The movie has some very mature material for a PG-13 including explicit sexual humor with jokes about adultery, group sex, pornography, genital size, bondage, and homosexuality along with some very strong language including many double entendres featuring the word "balls." Characters drink frequently, including drinking to dull pain. The coach taunts the team by calling them "ladies." Numerous large-breasted women appear in close-ups, wearing very little.

Families can talk about some of their own experience in feeling like an underdog. What should Pete have done when White made him an offer?
Families could also talk about perseverance, and the comment made by one character that "if a person never quits after the going gets rough, they won't have anything to regret for the rest of their lives."
Peter is a very reluctant leader to his team. Why do they look up to him so much? Do you think it was wrong for him to admonish them for doing so?
What authentic underdog sports stories do you enjoy?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Fat, unattractive, and/or slow-witted people are the butt of numerous jokes and comic scenes. The only positive messages are that even the most unlikely people can achieve success if they try hard, think creatively, and are very lucky; and, that those with virtuous motives triumph over vain arrogance and greed.
Positive role models: Though characters are portrayed as working hard to attain a specific goal, given their behavior and their eccentricities, no one is a positive role model.

What to watch for

Violence: Continuous cartoon violence: pratfalls, characters being hit with steel wrenches, rubber balls (in the groin, face, head and every other conceivable area of the body). Characters dodge traffic, run into walls, and one primary character is “killed” when a massive chandelier falls and crushes him. Other than the chandelier debacle, none of the characters is shown to be in pain or seriously injured. All action is played in an exaggerated manner for comic effect.
Sex: Raunchy sexuality plays a big part in the humor of this film: character “pumps up” groin area of his workout pants to accentuate size of his genitals and wears those pants throughout the movie; classic-style sculpture of men in a grotesque sexual pose is featured in one sequence; lots of large-breasted women are seen in scanty clothing. There are crotch jokes, electrodes attached to nipples, sloppy kisses, and one extended girl-girl kiss and embrace.
Language: Continuous broad, risque language from start to finish: multiple uses and expressions involving “sh-t,” “ass,” bitch,” “hooker,” “pecker-slap,” “masturbate,” “semen,” “balls” (countless double entendres here), and "screwed.” In addition, there are derogatory, inflammatory descriptions such as: “retards,” “queers,” “lesbian” and “ladies” used to insult a group of men. Such “colorful” ribald expressions as “Skidmarks on the underpants of…, ” and “Time to put your mouth where our balls are,” are heard throughout.
Consumerism: Flooded with featured products and signage: Lumber Liquidators, FOX TV, Marriott Hotels, ESPN (a fake channel they call ESPN 8), Omaha Steaks, Sport Court, Mat Depot, Hallmark, the Las Vegas Monte Carlo Hotel.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Beer and other alcoholic beverages are consumed in numerous sequences, but never to the stage of drunkenness. There is one shot of an opium den. Some characters are shown using alchol to “drown their sorrows.”

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.