Can an idiotic comedy be clever? Rawson Marshall Thurber
and his "Dodgeball" team prove it can, while Will Ferrell,
Adam McKay and the crew of "Anchorman" fall short of their
goal and only make an idiotic comedy mildly amusing. Both
follow the "There's Something About Mary" mold of pratfalls
and shock-value guffaws, but where "Dodgeball" supplements
its crass behavior with witty dialogue, "Anchorman" has little
to offer over the expectations of a five minute "Saturday
Night Live" script.
Directing his first feature film, Thurber assembles for "Dodgeball"
a talented cast, feeding it lines that vary between satirical
and inane. Slob Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) owns a dilapidated
gymnasium that despite the décor has a family atmosphere
amongst his oddball customers. His arch-nemesis, White Goodman
(played with pitch-perfect sleaze by Ben Stiller), proprietor
of a multi-million dollar gym franchise, wants to tear down
the tiny gym to make room for a parking garage.
When one of Peter's regulars (Stephen Root) discovers in
a fringe sport magazine that a dodgeball tournament in Las
Vegas offers a cash prize, the motley crew forms a team of
misfits for a game in which they can barely compete. They
lose to a team of vicious girl scouts, only to succeed thanks
to a technicality, qualifying for the finals. Unfortunately,
White Goodman and his pumped-up ringers stand in the way.
Only a saucy disabled ex-dodgeball superstar (Rip Torn) and
an attractive auditor from the bank (Christine Taylor) drive
the team towards victory.
Brash and crude, "Dodgeball" sets up some fast zingers and
knocks most into the audience's funny bones. As violent as
a Road Runner cartoon, the bawdy jokes poke fun at sports,
the health fad and several politically incorrect subjects.
Vaughn, a mild-mannered funny man, is the film's anchor.
He allows Stiller to buzz around like a rabid bee while he
keeps the audience's attention throughout. Taylor, Stiller's
wife, has a genuine presence. Whether playing straight woman
to the surrounding comics, or extending her own perverse
jokes, Taylor is endearing.
This raucous comedy will join the annals of sports spoofs
with "Slap Shot" and "The Longest Yard."
"Anchorman" achieves the impossible. It made me laugh continuously
without allowing me to enjoy the film.
During the swinging seventies, Ron Burgundy (Will Farrell)
is the cock on the walk at the local San Diego TV station.
The lead anchor for the news, he commands a brigade of chauvinistic
reporters who idolize his portentous behavior. Veronica Corningstone,
an aggressive hotshot reporter (Christina Applegate) disrupts
the henhouse and its roosters, demanding equality in a male-dominated
world.
Ron and his wolves harangue the woman, demeaning her in public.
Protected by an office full of disenfranchised women, she
knocks him off his pedestal. But this battle of the sexes
is fought with blanks.
The volleying between Ron and Veronica simulates TV's odd
couple Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. However, whereas the
dialogue in "Cheers" would go: "Diane: 'Do you know the difference
between you and a half-brained ass?' Sam: 'No.' Diane: 'The
half-brained ass would.'" The best Farrell could come
up with for banter is "your hair's ugly." There
was some great slapstick stuff but not one funny line.
Farrell writes situations not repartee. Much of the situations
in "Anchorman" are hilarious. A "West Side Story" spoof with
battling newsmen (including cameos by Ben Stiller, Vince
Vaughn, Luke Wilson and Tim Robbins) had me in tears. Yet
there's not a single human being in "Anchorman, just caricatures.
"Elf" succeeded because working together with the comic circumstances
was genuine pathos. You related the characters, even gruff
father James Caan. "Anchorman" never grounds itself in reality
or humanity. It remains shallow.
A pleasant rental for a rainy day, "Anchorman" never achieves
the level that its satirical subject matter warrants. Grade:
Dodgeball: B+; Anchorman: C+ |
