Headscratchers / DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

• So let me get this straight. If the team of girl scouts hadn't gotten busted for cheating, they'd be the ones competing in the Dodgeball Tournament? With a bunch of adults?
  • Thats about the gist of it, yes.
  • One wonders how they'd have reacted to the Dodgeball Dancers...
  • Although completely incompetent at that point in the movie, the Average Joes crew were (bar Justin) full-grown adults. So ...
• Okay, so Global Gym is an international company right? Or at least a national one. I'm pretty sure it's mentioned at some point that they have multiple locations. So how the hell is the controlling share of the company only four million bucks? Shouldn't it be worth more. Please note I have little understanding of economics, so maybe it does make sense. If that's the case, someone tell me.
  • For one it's just a gym, not a corporation. It only has one purpose and it aims at a specific clientele, and therefore it's only worth a small amount. In addition, a "controlling share" is anything over 50%, so maybe it was a 10 million dollar company, Vince Vaughn bought half with the 5 million he won, and the "four million" thing was just a spitballing estimate.
  • Plus he's got five million already. It shouldn't be that hard to cut deals and get the extra couple millions he might need.
  • Globo Gym only has the one location, they are not a nation-wide franchise. White does mention that they are opening a new gym in Mexico — for which he is learning Spanish — but that is the only reference to multiple locations. That might say that they are preparing for an expansion to go international, but in the movie itself they're still only a one-location small business. It is not unusual for such a company to be worth "only" $4million, and you could even gain a "controlling interest" of that company for only two million since (As was mentioned above) you only need 51% of a company's stock to own a controlling interest (Although in practice you would need more because there are several laws that protect minority shareholders from being dominated by the majority shareholders). Since White did specifically refer to his gym being worth $4 million when he was talking to Peter earlier in the movie, with the winnings from the tournament Peter could flat-out buy every share White doesn't own if he wanted to.
  • Why doesn't White already own a controlling share in his own business? That would prevent any such hostile takeover.
  • He probably owns something like 45%, enough to call the shots most of the time if his shareholders either don't care or are inclined to agree with his decisions anyway. Outside of someone buying up literally every stock he doesn't own, he's not in danger of a takeover.
• In the scene where Justin bumps into Amber at the casino hotel with the Jerk Jock she was seeing, they depart and said Jerk Jock (can't remember his name, Derrick, maybe) leaves Justin with a gesture of slapping one hand on his bicep, and making a fist with his other hand. I've noticed that in certain broadcast versions of the movie (like basic cable networks and such), the gesture is either blurred, or that shot is completely cut. Maybe I'm missing something, but is that somehow an obscene gesture? I mean I have the movie on DVD, and I've looked closely, and it's not like I saw a middle finger or anything.
  • Provided I can Google properly, you might mean this. Basically, "up yours."
    • Ah, okay, so in other words, this is like the metric system version of the middle finger. Got it.
• Why do all of the main characters have time to do their dodge ball training when it's been established that at least one of them (Kate) has a job (Attorney) that would likely require long working hours? And if most of them don't have jobs, how did they pay for the flights/hotel rooms in Las Vegas?
  • Dwight and Owen work at AJs and it is more or less closed by competition time. Peter is obvious. Kate might have gotten time off unless White sacking her ruined her job. Justin is a school student and the cheerleaders were in LA so not too farfetched. Who knows what Gordon does.
  • White didn't sack her, White made her lose her job. So yes, she'd have free time.
  • Wouldn't travel and accommodations be provided for them? A lot of programs that involved their people having to travel have little announcements that say "Travel considerations have been provided by . . ." But yes, White lied about Kate to her boss and got her fired, and Dwight and Owen are Peter's employees. Not sure about Gordon, and Steve the Pirate apparently just keeps searching for buried treasure, so yeah.
  • Given Gordon's attire in the bar scene, presumably he's got some white-collar office job somewhere. (Given his knowledge of currency conversion rates, it might be financial.) It's possible he had enough off days saved up or something.

• Big problem: the team thinks that the only way to save the gym is to learn to play dodgeball and win a knockout tournament played over several weeks, essentially going ahead on the luck of fate, when the gym is filled with useless memorabilia and collectibles they can sell (there is a pinball machine in Peter's office - does he really need to play it more than he needs its $1000+ realised value?) Even if they don't make $50,000 by months' end, they can put it into a short-term, high-interest investment, or ask the bank if they can pay off some of the mortgage.
  • White personally bought the gym's mortgage and he later says the bank works for him. He probably legally can't stop them from paying off the amount, but can probably get the bank to refuse such deals, especially since Joe's has bad credit already. Also selling random junk for a good price in a timely fashion isn't that easy. That pinball table is probably in disrepair judging by Peter's other possessions.
• Does the A.D.A.A not have rules against betting on games for its players? Peter's stunt could have easily gotten the win overturned and subsequently lost the bet.
  • Everyone who mattered was there when the winnings were delivered and no one raised a stink, plus Peter was able to buyout White's gym. It stands to reason that there weren't rules regarding that.

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