The Ringer
Runtime: 1h34
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Katherine Heigl
This movie is little known comedy well worth a watch. As with most comedies, the basic plotline is a bit sketchy. The story follows a man with a good heart, whose actions unwittingly lead him to be in dire need of $28,000 to help a friend. Seeing no other way to come up with the money, he decides to scam the Special Olympics, betting against the current champion. Over the course of the movie, he gains a better understanding – and a great deal of respect – for the champions participating alongside him in the Special Olympics.
Johnny Knoxville shows us a good performance as both Steve, the man driven in a corner, and Jeffy, his impersonation of a ‘highly functioning developmentally challenged’ participant in the Special Olympics. The only drawback to Knoxville – that I could see – was that I had some trouble believing his running style was fast enough to beat a Special Olympics champion. That aside, he’s hilarious throughout the movie and I’ll definitely keep an eye on his future exploits. The rest of the acting is well done, by both the special and other actors.
The music and sound effects were also good. The movie features a performance by ‘The Kids of Whidney High’, playing two of their songs including their number one hit ‘I see pretty girls everywhere I go’. Personally, I’m not so sure I could classify it as singing, but I loved the song and the band fit in well with the movie.
The start of the movie is a bit slow humor-wise, as the director takes five to ten minutes to set up the story. There are a few illogical parts about the storyline but for the most part it’s a solid story. Once you’re past that the real fun starts. There’s a varying degree of jokes including cheap jokes, some requiring a bit more thought and a few at the expense of disabled people. To that extent I’ve thought about how this movie might be perceived by disabled people, in particular in today’s ‘politically correct’ world. Personally I’m no fan of political correctness – it’s not what I call you that’s important, it’s what I meant by it. I’d rather be politically incorrect but mean no offense than be politically correct but mean to insult. Anyway, this movie does indeed make a bit of fun of special people at times, but I think that’s grossly compensated for how it displays those special people. Perhaps it does show almost all of them wearing their shorts as high as they go, but they all have a great heart. They may not all be geniuses (then again, who is), but with a little effort they can be a functioning part of society. To paraphrase a comment from the movie: ‘People tell us all the time what we can’t do, but we can do anything we set our mind to’.
This movie serves special people in two distinct ways. First, most of the actors were special people, which is a rare thing to see indeed. It deserves mention that this helped the movie rather than detract from it. Second, it brings special people in the spotlight and out of obscurity. I once had a Q&A in high school with a disabled person and the single most annoying thing to her was having people watch her as she rolled down the street. A result of this is a vicious downward spiral as people are shamed into staying in, fewer people go out and there’s more reason to stare. Movies like this should help to desensitize people, which in turn helps disabled people feel like they fit in.
Having seen this movie several times in the few weeks I’ve had it, I can only highly recommend this little known gem. The only reasons that I can think of not to watch this movie is if you have an aversion to a few cheap laughs or comedy altogether, or if too small minded to see special people shine in the roles given to them.
