REVIEW
>>THE RINGER
STARRING Johnny Knoxville, Brian Cox and Katherine Heigl
DIRECTED BY Barry W. Blaustein
Opens Friday, December 23
Check listings
When I heard that the Special Olympics endorsed this movie I refused to believe it. I mean, Johnny Knoxville posing as a mentally challenged person to rig the Special Olympics? Produced by the Farrelly brothers? Prepare to dreg the depths of offensive humour.
The Ringer is, dare I say it, a positive message flick, pandering to the non-complexities of degrading juvenilia, without succumbing to moralizing or offensiveness. Apparently, some things are off limits.
Knoxville plays Steve Barker, a kindly dork, whose newly promoted position requires him to fire the janitor, who, of course, is a nice guy with a dead wife and five kids. Unable to axe the poor guy, Steve invites him to work for him, whereupon he cuts off some fingers mowing the lawn. Enter his sleazy uncle Gary (Brian Cox), whose gambling debts are causing him trouble. Knowing Steve needs some cash to sew his janitor’s digits back on, he offers him a way out of their respective financial woes – infiltrate the Special Olympics.
Ignoring the fact that this is the dumbest, most offensive
premise offered up in a long time, the film finds a way to work on its own merits. Steve falls in love with a bubbly volunteer named Lynn, and becomes friends with a group of the athletes, who aid him along in his, uh, quest. Steve gets in shape and figures out a way to, at some point, admit to Lynn that he’s been faking all along.
Things work out fine, as they should. I’m not ruining anything for anybody. What needs to be pointed out, though, is that this isn’t the flick that many who will attend think it to be. There’s some humour, of the physical type, the rest thankfully added by the cast of mentally challenged actors allowed to interact with a constructive and welcoming script. Oh yes, there’s the jokes that you’ll expect/want to hear – referring to the convict in The Green Mile as a mega-tard being a memorable one. But the majority of the film exposes the stereotypes and passive aggressive language and cruelty directed towards those so easily open to exploitation.
Young kids and those looking for a positive message will find a number of things to gain in The Ringer. For the rest of you, though – and you know who you are, this isn’t the angry, offensive, raunchy movie that you’re hoping it will be. |
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