review of the ringer

ah, johnny knoxville. what a funny guy. i've enjoyed his work, especially enjoyed many an episode of jackass. i know the idea wasn't his, and that he was sorta just the frontman of the crew, but really, he understood what he was doing. and, i think he's got a good sense of slapstick. i saw lords of dogtown and couldn't figure out who he was until the very end. anyway, he's not the greatest actor, but does i've enjoyed the things i've seen. heck, i've enjoyed articles i've read about him, interviews with him. so, when i heard that he was doing a movie about faking it in the special olympics, i knew i'd have to see it. but, a part of me was worried. really, making fun of mentally challenged people puts you on really shaky ground. it's way worse than watching his crew tip over a port-o-potty. so, i was hoping that they'd tread lightly, appropriately, and humorously.

for those that don't know, my wife works as a school psychologist. she assesses learning disabilities in young children so that they can receive appropriate education. at a district meeting, they were encouraged to see the movie because of the way that it treated people with special needs. it was also approved of by the special olympics.

recently, i was watching ebert & roeper, and they also said that it handled the issue very well, and you never felt that they were making fun of the mentally challenged. they gave it a mixed review (one gave a moderate thumbs up, the other a moderate thumbs down). now, i think that these guys usually do a good job, and i especially trust roeper's reviews.

now, to the movie. knoxville delivers a fine performance. bryan cox plays a generally unlikable character. the premise is this: knoxville gets a raise @ work, has to fire the janitor. the janitor has a big family and knoxville feels bad and hires him to mow his lawn at his own expense. the guy cuts his fingers off, knoxville doesn't have the insurance or money to get the fingers reattached. his uncle, cox, pitches the idea that knoxville could act mentally challenged and beat all these special athletes and he could place bets on it. of course, knoxville is torn over this "evil" idea, but reluctantly goes ahead to get the janitor's fingers fixed. while @ the special olympics, knoxville falls for katherine heigel. she's a helper with the olympics. but she thinks he's a contestant. oh, what will johnny knoxville do? and can he really beat the other competitors?

now that you know the premise, i'll tell you that i enjoyed the film. i think it was well done, and really does show the athletes in a very positive light. it never reduces the special olympians to just a joke. overall, the movie is enjoyable but average. a few problems, but if you're willing to supress the logic of a few things it's not a bad thing to watch if you're interested in a light comedy. (the one that kept sticking out to me is that heigel's character doesn't see through knoxville. she is supposed to have had a mentally challenged brother, and works with mentally challenged. really, you're telling me that she wouldn't see through a guy pretending?)

the review on imdb.com says that the ringer plays it too safe. huh? how can you do it any differently without being an insensitive jerk? would anyone that has any sense of decency go see a movie that really does make the mentally challenged the butt of the joke? in fact, most of my friends were unwilling to go until i assured them that it wasn't the case. so, it's too safe? the review then goes on to say that it should have done more with true satire & gut-busting situations. easier said than done my friend. again, i'm not saying this was a great movie. it was funny. it could have been funnier. but that's true of a lot of comedies. so, if you're going to say that it was too safe, you've got to either give a better defense of your critique or examples of how it could have been less safe and still humane.