Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story

2004, Movie, NR, 91 mins

BLACKBALLED: THE BOBBY DUKES STORY
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The Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry's mockumentary about the long climb back to the top of disgraced paintball whiz Bobby Dukes (Corddry) spins 20 minutes' of material into a 90-minute feature. Back in 1993 arrogant, egocentric paintball champ Dukes was caught cheating during a tournament, disgracing himself and clearing the way for his rival, Sam Brown (Rob Huebel, of Upright Citizens Brigade and star of Cingular's "inconsiderate cell-phone man" ads), to take over his team, the River Rats. Ten years later, an older and balder Dukes is ready to make his triumphant return, and blustering Bill Henry (stand-up comedian D.J. Hazard), who founded the prestigious Hudson Valley Paintball Classic, welcomes him back. Henry is the only one, however. None of the old River Rats, all of whom abandoned paintball after Dukes' disgrace rubbed off on them, will even consider joining him on a new team. He's forced to turn to nerdy referee Lenny Pear (Paul Scheer, also of Upright Citizens Brigade), who called him out during the fateful tournament and harbors a secret desire to play on a real team. He helps Dukes put together a ragtag group of misfits and nut jobs, including psychotic Eddie Reynolds (Ron Riggle, one-time SNL cast member and Huebel's comedy partner), who appears to not realize that paintball isn't real warfare. Dukes trains his new team in martial arts, sends them for therapeutic massages and pep talks them into victory against a gangsta-rapping Canadian team, which qualifies them for the Classic. But do they have what it takes to be the best? The cliches of sports movies about underdogs and upset victories have been so thoroughly mocked that the novelty of applying them to paintball can't make them seem fresh or pointed. And though the performances are surprisingly good — the characters are drawn with a broad brush, but the actors, almost all professional comics, hit all the right notes — the material just isn't funny enough to justify the film's length. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story
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