Dodgeball: the original ending (spoilers)

Cafe Society
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I watched the movie Dodgeball when it was in the theatre and enjoyed it. Enough so that I got the DVD today. One of the features on the DVD was an “alternate ending”. The director/writer Rawson Thurber explained that this was actually his original ending and he was very upset because it “tested” poorly and the studio made him reshoot a new ending.

Normally, I’d tend to agree with the writer and/or director over something like this. But in this case, the studio was completely right. Having seen both endings, the theatrical ending was far superior to the original one.

Dodgeball was a silly movie with some clever jokes. The theatrical ending was part of that; the good guys won, the bad guys lost, the hero redeemed himself, there was a clever twist and several funny jokes.

Here’s the original ending: it’s the climatical final game. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller are facing off. Stiller suddenly throws a ball and knocks Vaughn out of the game. Vaughn and his teammates have a brief moment of shock as they realize they’ve lost everything and Stiller celebrates his victory. The entire scene takes about thirty seconds and the end credits roll.

In his commentary over the scene, Thurber talks about how he wanted to have a “serious ending” and show how sometimes even the good guys lose. That’s fine and I can appreciate that idea in theory, but what movie did he think he had been making up until then? This movie has a character who dresses up like a pirate - a serious ending isn’t going to work here.

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He may have been thinking of folks like this (especially the two reply posts), who like the original ending better and think that it actually fits in better, thematically, to the rest of the film.

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Frankly, I think it was either a joke or a marketing ploy to get people to buy the DVD of a movie that just didn’t do so great during its theatrical release.

First, it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the movie. Secondly, it is a dead end. I mean, it would be one thing to have them lose, but it’s something else entirely to have them lose and have the film just end right there. No follow-up, no real reaction from any of the main characters (apart from a few moments of celebration and dejection)? It was also set up by several elements earlier in the film - where Rip Torn gives Vince Vaughan the scarf, and were Stephen Root is telling another team member about the rules around double faults. The whole lesbian pay-off wouldn’t be there. The resolution of the Pirate guy wouldn’t be there.

I am hopeful that it is just a joke.