Release Date: July 25, 2006

I can almost hear the inner monologue in Rob Corddry’s brain while preparing for this project; “Steve Carell was successful in a leading role. Jon Stewart has made some decent movies. Why can’t I do the same?” The only thing Corddry didn’t consider was the fact that he is not Steve Carell, nor is he Jon Stewart. But while he is not either one of those two gentlemen, he is the most recent member of The Daily Show’s cast to run off and make a movie, curtailing off of the immense success of the Comedy Central fake news show. Corddry’s project, a film called Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story.

In the afore mentioned blunder, I mean film, Corddry plays Bobby Dukes, a paintball player who was banned from the game for ten years because he cheated during a championship match. Exposed as a cheater, Dukes disappeared and went off to travel the world and find himself once again. Now after 10 years away from the game he loved so much, Dukes has returned to put together a team of misfits and take back the glory that was once lost. In a mock-umentary style, Corddry and filmmaker Brant Sersen take us deep into the competitive and frighteningly Deliverance-ish world of paintball in America to show us a tale of inner strength and redemption.

That synopsis may be giving the film a little too much credit, as it really doesn’t come through on the “tale of inner strength” part. Blackballed, in essence, is meant to be a comedy so dumb that we have no option other than to laugh. And for the most part, it does just that. We laugh because we can’t help it, it is infectious. As I screened this one, I caught myself wondering how someone could make a movie like this, so irreverent and openly immature, and keep a straight face. But then again, that is the mild comedic genius of Rob Corddry.

But as funny as the film was, the humor was mostly ephemeral. The film drags in between humorous moments and ultimately made me reach for something else to do while watching it at home on DVD. Corddry is funny, but in a “naïve child who stinks and other kids won’t play with him but he can’t figure out why” way. The real humor is delivered on the part of the overly dramatic supporting cast; The losers, the freaks, the castaways and the geeks, all of whom have a place in this film. Their uncanny resemblance to friends that I have had makes them not only relatable but it brings about frightening revelations of my own life. To put it simply, this film reminds me that I was a loser in high school. I don’t know if that is good or not.

Either way Blackballed is a funny movie, if only for moments at a time. You have to give kudos to the filmmakers for being so successful with so little to work with. And as for Rob Corddry, he may not be the next Steve Carrell, but he is pretty funny to watch. I wouldn’t recommend going out and buying this DVD, but it is worth a spot in your Netflix que.

Final Grade: