Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a 2004 comedy from 20th Century Fox, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starring Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, and Rip Torn. The film focuses on a rivalry between the owners of "Average Joe's," a small gym, and Globo-Gym, a competing big-budget gym located across the street. Peter LaFleur (Vaughn), the owner of the smaller gym, has defaulted on his mortgage and enters a dodgeball tournament in an attempt to earn the money necessary to prevent his gym from being purchased by Globo-Gym. Globo-Gym enters a team in the tournament in an effort to ensure that Average Joe's gym fails.

Dodgeball received generally good reviews, with a 70% average rating on Rotten Tomatoes . The film was largely a commercial success, grossing over $30 million in its first week and eventually grossed more than $114 million domestically.

Peter LaFleur is a charismatic underachiever and proprietor of a rundown gym called Average Joe's. The facility's ecclectic clientele of decidedly less-than-average Joes is comprised of: a self-styled pirate; a scrawny nerd who dreams of impressing an unattainable cheerleader; an obsessive aficionado of obscure sports; a dim-witted young man; and a cocky know-it-all who, of course, really knows nothing. Peter's humble gym catches the eye of White Goodman, the power-mullet-sporting, Fu-Manchu-d, egomaniacal owner of Globo Gym, a gleaming monolith of fitness. White intends to take over Average Joe's, and Peter's non-existent bookkeeping is making it all too easy for him. A foreclosing bank has stationed attorney Kate Veatch inside Average Joe's to finalize Globo's takeover of the gym. But Peter's boyish charms win her over and Kate joins his team of social rejects to beat the odds--and their own ineptitude--to try to save Average Joe's. How? A showdown dodgeball competition against Globo Gym. Written by Sujit R. Varma

This is the story of two different people, Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) and White Goodman (Ben Stiller). Peter is a man of many sorts: an underachiever, a procrastinator, and the owner/operator of Average Joe's Gymnasium, a decaying, rundown gym in a large city. Peter's employees and members consist of: Owen, a man who can't even find love; Dwight, a cocky Mr. Know-It-All; Gordon, a timid, semi-shy person and fan of obscure sports; Justin, a high school geek and Steve, a pirate looking for some treasure. White, a wealthy fitness guru, just happens to be the president/founder of the Globo Gym America Corporation and the owner/operator of the local Globo Gym, a humongous fitness center known to bring in the "big bucks" turning normal "nobodies" into mean, lean, "superfine somebodies". White wants to close and tear down Average Joe's Gym to build a brand-new parking garage structure for the Globo Gym members, so he hires Katherine Veach (Christine Taylor) an attorney from a local bank to foreclose the place, giving Peter 30 days to come up with the mortgage payment of $50,000 or Average Joe's is no more forever, leaving White to take over the gym. Unfortunately even underachievers can make dreams come true, so Peter, with the help of his rejected friends, decides to become a dodge-ball team by playing in the American Dodgeball Association of America (ADAA) International Dodgeball Competition in Las Vegas for the grand prize of $50,000 to save their gym. Kate, who is won over Peter's charms, join the team as well because she believes in him. But White is NOT fooled, no less stupid. He too and his new super buff-and-tough team, known as the "Purple Cobras" wants in on the action, for some extra dough. All the Average Joe's need is ex-veteran all-star Patches O' Houlihan (Rip Torn) to whip them into killing mode shape. Can the Average Joe's kill the Globo Gym Purple Cobras, win the $50,000, and save the gym in time??? Written by Christopher Howell (Ckh87520@aol.com)