This review is slightly different. This was an induction piece into a film studies A-Level. Since the course was (typically) cancelled, I thought this was an appropriate place to pop it.
Dodgeball begins with a four minute introduction that is split into two: White Goodman’s gym advertisement, and Peter Leflour waking up and catching the end of it on television.
The advertisement starts with a narrator describing the gym. Immediately he uses the phrase “Tired of the same old you?” in an over-the-top infomercial way. He continues like this, setting up what the rest of the commercial will be like. Sexualised images of the behinds of very fit men and women play as the narrator speaks, until we are met with the antagonist, White Goodman. His goofy facial expressions, bizarre silver outfit and stocky appearence immediately let you know that you’re watching a comedy. The advertisement becomes a parody of a typical gym infomercial, with references to fat being a “mental disorder”. It is this sort of nonsense that can keep a comedy watchers attention.
On the opposite side, Peter, the protagonist, wakes up from the sofa with the commercial still playing. As White utters the motto “We’re better than you! And we know it.”, Peter grunts “Spare me” before switching off the television. We’re then given a brief but revealing look into Leflour’s home life, with dirty laundry hung over furniture, empty beer cans and pizza boxes thrown across the living room and with voicemails letting him know about overdue porn rentals and unpaid water bills. This typical lower-class slob’s environment strongly juxtaposes the powerful purple colours and clinical feel of White’s gym. As Peter’s segment ends, we see his comically run down car be pushed to his work, where we are given the revealing shot: Peter owns his own gym, and they are across the road from one another. This begins to set up the themes of the movie, namely big corporations versus local business’, and also rich vs poor as seen by the gym leader’s opposing lifestyles. Both sides of the introduction get across the negatives sides of each gym first, almost setting up a fairy tale-esque story.
The music of the introduction in again split into two: White’s advert sticks with the clinical theme by having a cold and generic backing track repeat throughout, but its speed is fast and gives an impression of the high octane lifestyle he leads. Peter however has a warm and catchy beat play slowly, which later becomes the main theme music of the movie.
To conclude, the introduction is oddball enough to keep a viewers attention, but its use of cold and warm contrasting colours and clever use of music allow its themes to become present.
