PETER La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) runs the ramshackle Average Joe's Gym, which is under threat of take-over 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 (Stephen Root), nice guy Justin (Justin Long), clumsy nerd Owen (David Moore) and aptly named Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) - 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.

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 includes a cringe-worthy end of credits riff in a fat suit that verges on the offensive.

Writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber relentlessly pitches the visual and verbal gags, tossing in a few random cameos for good measure.

RATING: 4/10