The Ringer [2004]

I remember seeing the teaser trailer for The Ringer a while before it actually came out, it contained a moment where Johnny Knoxville goes into a church confessional to admit to the priest he’s been acting handicapped to win the Special Olympics for money and promptly gets his ass kicked. It peaked my interest in the movie (and just so you know, it’s the most amusing thing in this stinker), but then it was delayed for almost two years before finally hitting theatres in late 2005.

Made with the participation of the Special Olympics and co-produced by the Farrelly brothers (who have delivered such fare as the hilarious Kingpin and not-so-good-but-still-amusing There’s Something About Mary) you’d almost expect The Ringer to be a hilarious film packed with many scenes of Knoxville acting mentally handicapped while competing in track and field events. It’s a premise that an episode of South Park nailed perfectly, it’s too bad then that this movie decides to play it safe sporting jokes that are much too tame when (and I hate to admit this) it would’ve been better if it was more ruthless in poking fun at its subject.

The story is a simple one. Knoxville plays Steve, a likeable enough (if wimpy) office worker who is forced to fire the office’s janitor as the first task in a promotion. Unable to do it in good conscience he ends-up hiring Stavi (Luis Avalos), who has an accident where he loses some fingers. Steve is forced go along with a scheme his uncle Gary (Brian Cox) has dreamed-up in which he’ll pretend to be retarded in order to win the Special Olympics so he can earn enough money for Stavi’s operation and get Gary out of debt when they bet he can defeat reigning champion Jimmy (Leonard Flowers, who’s character is supposed to be handicapped but never acts like it).

From here The Ringer trots out the expected clichés as Steve is befriended by a group of fellow athletes, has second thoughts about what he’s doing, falls for “helper” Lynn (Katherine Heigl), and is discovered by his new friends – who wants him to beat Jimmy just as badly as his uncle does.

Good intentions can only carry a movie so far and while you have to give the movie credit for giving handicapped actors major roles in a Hollywood film it fails in portraying them in an accurate, or likeable, manner (after all, they are bent on Jimmy’s failure). It also doesn’t help that Knoxville turns in one of the weakest performances of his career as he’s about as convincing as a slow-minded adult as a monkey in human clothes might be.

The Ringer just isn’t funny. It’s lacking in comedic bite, it’s pretty damn boring, and the subplot between Knoxville and Heigl’s characters tends to get annoying (especially in the finale where he’s uncovered as a cheat and a liar but she quickly forgives him). There’s really no wonder why this was pushed back as it’s one truly bad waste of time.

1 out of 4

Directed by Barry W. Blaustein. Written by Ricky Blitt. 94 minutes. PG-13