The Ringer

I was a little uncomfortable going to this movie by myself, as I feared that others might mistake my solitary status as an indication of some sort of predilection for laughing at retarded people. Thankfully, however, The Ringer was not as crass or insensitive as I had anticipated, so I didn't have to make it as obvious as possible that I was there to review the movie, as I did when I watched Herbie: Fully Loaded by myself. Incidentally, you've never truly been shamed until you've been called out by a 10 year-old questioning why a 20-something adult would come to see Herbie by herself.

Apparently Johnny Knoxville wasn't entirely comfortable starring in a movie about deceiving the physically and mentally handicapped in order to make money off of the Special Olympics either, as his character, Steve, is essentially forced into the position of intentionally fixing the games. After listening to a verbally abusive motivational tape, Steve works up the courage to ask his boss for a promotion and a raise. After taking two seconds to ponder Steve's request, the boss agrees and tells him that his first test of new responsibility is to fire Stavi (Luis Avalos), the company's janitor. But Steve's just a big softie, and instead of firing poor Stavi, he instead hires him to mow his lawn, while throwing in a raise and health benefits as well. Unfortunately, Stavi doesn't make the brightest decisions, and accidentally loses three of his fingers while mowing Steve's lawn one day, resulting in a $28,000 operation that Steve, as Stavi's employer, is required to pay lest Stavi lose his fingers for good. Having only a few weeks in which to raise the money, Steve turns to his Uncle Gary (Brian Cox), who comes up with a scheme to fix the Special Olympics and bet on Steve in order to win enough money for the operation (and to pay off Uncle Gary's debts). Since this is obviously the only avenue left for Steve to pursue, he puts up brief and unenthusiastic moral objection against the plan, and then is left with absolutely no choice, positively no other option whatsoever, but to pretend to be retarded in order to fix the Special Olympics. We've all been there before, I'm sure. So, after watching Forrest Gump, I Am Sam, Rain Man, and The Green Mile, Uncle Gary is satisfied with Steve's ability to act retarded, and they attempt to register Steve for the Special Olympics. As it happens, the organizers of this event will apparently just take your word for it if you show up claiming to qualify as mentally handicapped, so Steve enters the competition under the inconspicuous pseudonym, Jeffy Dahmer.

The rest of the film is obvious. Of course, none of Jeffy's/Steve's fellow competitors actually buy him as being mentally handicapped, but they agree to help him out when they learn of his motivations for deceiving them. The movie was relatively funny in some parts, and all of the characters were likable enough, but I would classify this movie more in the "cute" category. The humor wasn't necessarily clever, but it was harmless and innocent, which made it overall entertaining to watch. I would recommend it, but I would suggest waiting for the DVD--there will probably be an uncut version and you won't be missing anything by waiting the extra few months to see it.