An agreeably stupid comedy about the sport of "violence, exclusion and degradation," "DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story" has its share of the expected - shots, shots and more shots of men being hit hard in the groin and head by red rubber balls (not to mention socket wrenches and speeding automobiles) - but it also has an enjoyable up-with-misfits story that will please fans of underdog comedies like "Stripes" and "Animal House."

Art it ain't, but Rawson Marshall Thurber's debut has more than enough laughs to justify the price of admission. Even when the movie runs out of gas in its last half hour, Thurber (he's the guy who made the "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" commercials for Reebok) saves the day by including a couple of priceless cameos that elevate the proceedings by virtue of bizarre imagination. (The best of them uproariously acknowledges every sports movie cliche in the book.)

"DodgeBall" in large part succeeds because of the affection Thurber has for his characters. Vince Vaughn plays Peter LaFleur, owner of Average Joe's gym, a homey place that attracts area freaks and geeks, not to mention the odd pirate. Peter doesn't bother to collect dues (the would-be pirate offers to barter his treasure - when he finds it) and encourages his members to take things at their own pace, even if that means they'll never have the sculpted bodies seen on Bowflex commercials.

Contrast that to Globo Gym, a fitness center whose motto is: We're better than you and we know it. Owner White Goodman (Ben Stiller) sports a Fu Manchu of perfect right angles, periodically adds three pounds to the scales in the women's locker rooms and plans to take over Average Joe's and turn it into a parking garage. LaFleur must raise $50,000 in 30 days to save his gym; conveniently, the Las Vegas International Dodgeball Open Championships offers $50,000 in prize money.

You know the rest of the story. The pleasure comes with the execution. There's the black-and-white instructional film duly informing that dodgeball originated in 15th-century China where opium smokers would throw severed heads at each other. There's dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan (Rip Torn), who coaches the Joe's team in the five D's of the sport - dodge, duck, dip, dive and, um, dodge. "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball," Patches says, opening up a sack of wrenches and gleefully throwing them at noggins and groins.

There's the bit about the championship's televised home - ESPN 8 or, as it's better known, "The Ocho." There's the competition itself, which, while not as inventive as, say, Guy Maddin's "Saddest Music in the World," still has its moments. There's a lot of raunchy humor of the variety the Farrelly brothers used to specialize in before they went soft in the head and heart. And did I mention all the red rubber balls hitting people in the crotch?

Again, this is pretty low-brow stuff. But funny. Vaughn has a natural charm that calls to mind the way Chevy Chase used to glide through these sort of comedies, the cool guy, secure in his own limitations and failures, but open to learning a Life Lesson, provided that it's taught by someone blond and attractive (Christine Taylor). It sure beats being taught by Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Radio, don't you think?