“DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story” taught us all that if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball, with the classic sports film reaching almost “Mean Girls”-levels of quote-ability over the years through its many sayings of wisdom and hilarity. While it’s hard to believe that the movie came out nearly 20 years ago, it’s been a long, long time since the Average Joe’s team first hit the big screen in 2004. As we ponder just how, exactly, we got this old, let’s take a second to see where the movie’s main players find themselves nowadays.
Vince Vaughn – Peter
Vince Vaughn may have already been well-known for “Swingers,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” and “Psycho” when he starred in “DodgeBall,” but the film seems to have marked the beginning of a new phase in Vaughn’s career: that of big budget, big screen comedies. The next year, he appeared in “Wedding Crashers,” which solidified his status as a comedy leading man.
Vaughn’s next movies included a number of films that he also helped to write and produce, including “The Break-Up,” “Couples Retreat,” and “The Internship.” Outside of projects he had multiple roles in, he also reunited with his “DodgeBall” co-star Ben Stiller in “The Watch” and appeared in “The Dilemma” and “Delivery Man.”
Including a starring role as a crooked casino owner on the second season of “True Detective,” Vaughn departed from his fast-talking comedy roots with an appearance in the war drama “Hacksaw Ridge,” which was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. His most recent roles veer toward “family” entertainment — literally. He nabbed a recurring role as Chet Stevenson on the Netflix animated comedy “F is for Family,” and he played Hutch in “Fighting with My Family,” a movie about the rise of WWE star Paige. He later starred in “Queenpins” and “Freaky.”
Ben Stiller – White
Ben Stiller has had a varied career as an actor, writer, and director, and it seems like it was really launched in 2004, the year “DodgeBall” was released. While Stiller was already famous for “Meet the Parents” and “Zoolander,” 2004 saw him starring in “Meet the Fockers,” “Starsky & Hutch,” and “Along Came Polly,” some of his most popular films.
That was just the start for Stiller, though, and he has continued to be hugely successful since, lending his voice to the “Madagascar” series, appearing in the “Night at the Museum” franchise, and writing, directing, and starring in “Tropic Thunder.” In 2016, he appeared in “Zoolander 2” (earning him a few Razzie nominations, but hey, we all make mistakes sometimes). He also appeared in 2017’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” opposite Adam Sandler, which made its debut at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival with a standing ovation. Plus, he’s moved behind the camera and into more dramatic work as of late, producing and directing the based-on-a-true-story prison break miniseries “Escape at Dannemora,” which earned 12 nominations at the 2019 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series.