Hero Fiennes Tiffin Can Repeat Every Line From This 2000s Comedy | Sorry Not Sorry
Not every comedy stands the test of time. A lot of them work in the moment, when the jokes feel fresh, and the references line up with whatever people were into at the time. But after a few years, the humor doesn't feel the same anymore. However, a select few become evergreen hits. When asked about his guilty pleasure rewatch, Hero Fiennes Tiffin named one of these as his favorite.
WATCH: Hero Fiennes Tiffin Can Repeat Every Line From This 2000s Comedy!
"I have a few. I'm a big fan of a rewatch," Fiennes told JustWatch while promoting the 2026 mystery television series, Young Sherlock. "But I recently rewatched Dodgeball. I mean, that's one of the best comedies of all time. I could probably repeat every line as I watch along. But it still always gets me," the actor continued. And he makes a pretty decent point.
The late '90s and early 2000s produced a very specific kind of comedy that still gets revisited because the structure is simple, the characters are clear, and the jokes aren't trying to do too much. Still, it's worth pointing out that Dodgeball isn't exactly perfect. Its "anything for the joke" approach, which was very common at the time, can feel cringey from a modern perspective.
Why Some Comedies Age Better Than Others
Comedy is one of the more difficult genres to get right long-term. Not just in terms of making people laugh, but in terms of staying relevant. What works once doesn't always work again, and what works for one audience doesn't always translate to another. There's nothing wrong with building comedies that are specific to their era. But it does mean they have a shorter shelf life.
Once that moment passes, the film has to rely on something else. And sometimes there isn't much there. The comedies that last tend to have a character-first approach. So the jokes come from how people behave, not just what they say. A level of simplicity also helps. Easy-to-follow setups and a tone that doesn't change much give the film room to breathe without overcomplicating things.
That's a big part of why late '90s and early 2000s comedies still come up in conversations today. They weren't trying to be timeless, but they also weren't over-engineered. And when a comedy works like that, it doesn't really matter how many times you've seen it. The experience doesn't change all that much. If anything, it gets easier to settle into.
A Comedy Style Built Around Ben Stiller
If you're watching comedies from this era, there's a stretch where Ben Stiller (who plays the villain in 2004's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) is basically unavoidable. But nothing about his project choices felt repetitive. You have 1998's There's Something About Mary, which goes for shock humor but has an underlying sincerity that makes it different.
There's also Meet the Parents (2000), which focuses on situational comedy that's built almost entirely on discomfort with a good dose of slapstick thrown in for good measure. And 2001's Zoolander, which goes in the opposite direction—fully stylized, more satirical, and most of all super entertaining. They're all very different, but they all rely on a similar core idea.
Stiller's characters tend to exist slightly out of sync with everything around them. They're trying to maintain control, or at least the appearance of it, but things keep slipping. One small mishap turns into another, and then another, until the situation is completely out of hand. By the time you get to Dodgeball, that approach is fully dialed in.
Why To Watch 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story' (And What To Watch After)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story follows Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn), a gym owner who enters a dodgeball tournament to save his struggling business from being taken over by White Goodman (Ben Stiller), a hyper-competitive fitness entrepreneur. Things get complicated (and a little ridiculous) when Goodman decides to enter the tournament, too.
Stiller's performance alone really pushes Dodgeball from solid underdog comedy into something way more epic because his portrayal of White Goodman takes the silliness to the next level. But it never feels like too much. Paired with Vaughn's laid-back, almost indifferent energy as Peter LaFleur, the movie finds the perfect balance between chaos and control.
If you want to check out other Stiller movies from the 2000s, Starsky & Hutch (2004) is a great option. The story follows two mismatched detectives who are trying to crack a big case while constantly getting in their own way. There's also Duplex (2003), which follows a couple whose dream home becomes a total nightmare thanks to their elderly, stubborn, and intrusive upstairs tenant.
