Ben Stiller's "Goodman" is the epitome of a big time corporate America obsessed with keeping the country fit. "Peter" (Vince Vaughn) is pretty much the opposite as his small time local gym is on the brink of collapse. If he can't find $50,000 in double quick time then it's curtains. The only way they can maybe raise the money is to win a dodgeball tournament but when "Goodman" discovers this plucky plan, he establishes a team of his own and battle lines are drawn. Of course one team has unlimited resources whilst the other can barely afford to turn the lights on. They do have a secret weapon though - and that's the legendary "Patches O'Houlihan" (Rip Torn) who agrees to come and turn his enthusiastic collection of misfits into a cohesive and winning unit. Now there's not the least jeopardy here: it's just a rehash of the David and Goliath story with some dangerous looking ball skills thrown in. Fans of Stiller will probably love it, but I never really was one of those. I found his style of comedy way too in-your-face and not in the least subtle and after a few games with this big red weapon of body-mass destruction, I got a bit bored. It's tempered with a tiny bit of romance thanks to "Kate" (Christine Taylor) who'd also like to see "Goodman" with some egg on his face but the predictability of the whole film made it quite a long ninety minutes for me with Vaughn adding little to enliven the proceedings. It's very quickly paced and is obviously trying to be screwball but once we've met the characters it just becomes too processional. Nah.
