Ten Statements About....DODGEBALL (2004)

How many sports film spoofs have their very own in-house
pirate?

"If you're going to become true dodgeballers, then you've got to learn the five d's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!"

1) This film works as well as it does for one reason, and one reason only--every actor in it down to the last cameo thoroughly and absolutely buys into the world the film posits in every possible way. Since everyone believes in this world of obscure sports, complete with its own magazine and television network, we accept it.

2) This film occurred during a period where Ben Stiller was mining the characters he created for his Fox television show--White Goodman was based on a similar physical trainer character who appeared twice--and because he's had that earlier experience, Goodman is extremely vivid as a character. Even when he behaves like a caricature (which he does frequently), he works in the world of the film and is a credible villain for Vince Vaughn's Peter.

3) And speaking of Vince Vaughn...my friend and partner Derrick has compared him to Stripes-era Bill Murray, and I can see that. Vaughn's strength is in how he enhances and supports the other stars of the film around him. While Justin Long and Stephen Root and Rip Torn and Alan Tudyk and others do much of the heavy comedic lifting, Vaughn facilitates them every step of the way.

4) I know I've said this before--but my favorite of these satellite characters is Alan Tudyk's Steve The Pirate. The script has no explanation why Steve is a pirate, what his motivations are....he's just Steve The Pirate. Hell, his disappearance at the beginning of the third act even leads to one of the funnier gags in the film. But then...

5) The first of two strengths of Rawson Marshall Thurber's script is how the humor comes not from nonsensical gross out, but from characters and how they interact with each other. That's the key to real comedy.

What are you going to do with that pizza, Dwight?  What
are you doing with that Pizza?

6) The other strength is the meticulous attention to detail Thurber pays to the sport of professional dodgeball. As someone who does follow sports, I was appreciative of how this sport had specific rules, penalties and even personalities and announce teams so that when the sillier aspects of this story were plugged into it (like the teams other than Average Joes and The Purple Cobras), they instantly gain a modicum of veracity.

7) And speaking of Announce Teams, I don't think enough is made of the performances of Gary Cole and Jason Bateman as the commentators for the tournament. Not only do Cole and Bateman have a great chemistry together, they have a thorough understanding of how the play-by-play and color announcer system works. And, like everything else, there is a level of detail (notice the dodgeball tattoo on Bateman's neck) that just makes the world of the film believable.

8) You would think that the cameo by Lance Armstrong would make the film a dated prospect...but because the joke Thurber builds around this cameo is based on Armstrong reciting his cv, it avoids being an albatross around the film's neck and actually moves the plot along beautifully.

"Don't worry kids...later in the movie, I grow up to be Rip Torn!"

9) You want a way to give people gross out humor without disrupting the feel of the film or make everyone behave out of character? You confine the stuff about laxatives and having sexual congress with pizza to only one of them, namely Stiller. Since the grossness is only confined to White Goodman, and because Thurber picks and chooses his moments to inject said grossness, it manages to enhance the film without overpowering it. And arguably the grossest moment is left for the after-credits teaser.

10) While I am a fan of Stiller, I point to films like this to show how he can be far more effective as a secondary character rather than as a star. Due to his sketch comedy background, he's capable of creating grotesques like Goodman that can be used in support of a larger tapestry. Not that I'm saying he should be banished to support-hood like, let's say, Danny McBride, but it might be something for him to consider as he enters late middle age.

Overall...one of those near perfect ticking timepieces of a film, which manages to remain consistently funny throughout its running time thanks to an attention to detail, a clever script, and a meticulously put together cast. This is how the modern style of comedy should be handled.

Ten Statements About....BLAZING SADDLES (1974)

Yes, I love Pryor and Wilder...but this is just as effective
a comedy team.

"Take this down. I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists."
"Could you repeat that, sir?"

1) Even watching this now, after over thirty-five years, it strikes me how it helped form one of my principle rules when it comes to spoofs and satires. Namely, when you burn away all the gags and the broad performances and the genre-shattering final ten minutes, you still have a story that not only works within the genre its spoofing, but manages to make a valid point about racial politics on top of it.

Fuck Dr. Evil...Hedley Lamarr is the True Face of Comedic Evil!

2) God, I love the sheer delicious joy with which Harvey Korman attacks the role of Hedley Lamarr. He's one of the few movie villains I forgive for thinking himself evil because, damn it, he's so good at it.

3) After watching Gene Wilder's Waco Kid, I have to wonder how effective he could've been in a straight thriller--maybe even as a villain. The sheer control he has in this role is so at odds with how we usually think of Wilder (i.e. ranting, screaming, running about) that if he harnessed that quality for a serious flick...well, it could've been truly chilling.

4) I have to wonder if teens today--and I first saw this as a teenager--would look upon the frequent use of the racial epithets in this film the way we did back in the day. Would it have the same impact given how devalued these words have become?

5) Alex Karras may not have been an actor, even when he was trying to be an actor...but I can't think of another person who could've made Mongo work.

6) You'll notice how this film frequently dances on the precipice of gross-out humor. The fact that it tempers the grossness with word play, ethnic humor and sight gags avoids the ickiness of more recent films of this ilk ....

7) You'll also notice the way Brooks consciously avoids anything but the most general modern references. This allows us to watch it thirty-five plus years later and still enjoy it, whereas more recent spoof films will literally disappear from the public consciousness five years later.

8) I have to admit--I've never quite figured out how I feel about Madeline Kahn. I do recognize that she was a beautiful woman, and I can appreciate that she had an excellent sense of comic timing and body language...but there's something about her that has always left me cold. Maybe it's the way that she, like Adam Sandler, had a tendency to let funny voices do her acting for her. So yeah, I appreciate her but...not a fan.

9) I know the film was originally written for Richard Pryor--who even retains a writing credit--but I can't think of anyone who would have worked better than Cleavon Little. While I can certainly believe that Pryor would have that unbeatable chemistry with Wilder (you just have to look at their work together to know that), I have to wonder if he could have sold a 1974 white audience on the fact that he'd be acceptable to the Johnson-infested Rock Ridge over time

This is how you should have kept it, Mel...doing the small
roles in the funny make-up and letting the real actors have
all the fun.

10) I've mentioned this to my friend and partner Derrick before--but this sort of filmmaking, where the same actors, writers and directors move from picture to picture, taking different roles (even multiple roles) and fulfilling different purposes in the plot, isn't done anymore. Only the Broken Lizard troupe comes close to emulating Brooks' early filmmaking process. And Brooks never was as great a comedic presence as when he was leading Wilder and Kahn and the like through the desert of Hollywood cliche; it's not for nothing that Brooks' star began to fade once he started taking the lead roles for himself and slowly broke up his repertory company.

Overall...a true classic spoof, part of a string of just hit-them-out-of-the-park work for Mel Brooks...and a film that still resonates thanks to a smart script and some excellent performances.

Incidentally, I watched this on the '30th Anniversary' DVD edition that contains what may very be the absolute worst DVD commentary I've ever heard. Brooks has a reputation for being one of the most awful commentators on his own work...and this commentary (which just stops about fifteen minutes before the film does) is proof.