PETER La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) runs the ramshackle Average Joe's Gym, which is under threat of takeover by the multi-million-dollar Globo Gym.

The ever-expanding Globo empire is run with an iron fist and a bulging cod-piece by power-mullet-sporting fitness fiend White Goodman (Ben Stiller) - a man who proudly declares in his TV advertising, "Here at Globo Gym we're better than you, and we know it!"

In order to save his ailing business, Peter must raise $50,000 in double quick time.

So, he persuades a motley crew of his customers - including hen-pecked husband Gordon, nice guy Justin, clumsy nerd Owen and aptly named Steve the Pirate - to join him in a high profile Dodgeball contest.

One-time bank employee Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor), who loathes the arrogant and chauvinistic White, also dons her lycra in the hope of saving Peter's gym from foreclosure.

The Average Joes don't stand a chance of winning until one-time champion Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), now a wheelchair bound curmudgeon, agrees to whip the petrified newcomers into shape.

"Always remember the five d's of Dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!" Patches tells his raw recruits, devising a training schedule that includes sending the men across a busy highway at rush hour ("If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball!")

Having sensationally won their regional heat, the Average Joes head for the televised finals and possible glory, where White and his muscle-bound Purple Cobras team await.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story mercilessly lampoons the conventions of the sports movie genre, including a rousing grandstand finale, but doesn't have enough originality or flair to distinguish itself. Stiller's wild overacting, including a cringeworthy end of credits riff in a fat suit that verges on the offensive, leaves little room for any of the other actors, except Gary Cole and Jason Bateman as the hilarious commentator double-act, Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks.

More often than not, the punchlines fail to hit their intended target - rather like Peter and his ham-fisted squad.

See it at UCI, ABC