credit: www.amazon.com
Director:
Barry Blaustein
Cast:
Johnny Knoxville …. Steve Barker
Katherine Heigl …. Lynn Sheridan
Brian Cox …. Gary
Edward Barbanell …. Billy
Jed Rees …. Glen
Geoffrey Arend …. Winston
John Taylor …. Rudy
Bill Chott …. Thomas
Leonard Flowers …. Jimmy Washington
Luis Avalos …. Stavi
Zen Gesner …. David Patrick
Kids Of Widney High …. As themselves
20th Century Fox presents The Ringer. Written by Ricky Blitt. Running Time: 94 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for crude and sexual humor, language, and some drug references.) Available on DVD: May 16, 2006.
The Movie:
When one hears Farrelly brothers, Johnny Knoxville and Special Olympics in the same movie, all sorts of thoughts come to mind, most of them not good. But when you learn the film was co-produced by Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics, you know most those bad thoughts will be wrong.
We all know the main plot of this film is Johnny Knoxville trying to rig the Special Olympics and one wonders, why would he do that? And as in most movies, the answer is money.
Johnny Knoxville stars as Steve Barker, a guy who has a dead end office job, and wants more out of life. So he goes to his boss and asks for a promotion. To his surprise he gets it and his first new responsibility is to fire the janitor, Stavi. Steve knows Stavi and likes him so instead of firing him he hires him to work for Steve at home as a gardener. Stavi, we learn, is an illegal immigrant widower with five kids, and not so smart. On his first day on the job at Steve’s house he gets three of his fingers cut off trying to fix the lawnmower. Unfortunately, Stavi has no medical coverage of any kind and it’s going to cost $28,000 to get his fingers reattached. Enter the need for money.
Steve calls up his Uncle Gary (Brian Cox) who owes him $1,500. It turns out Uncle Gary is a gambler and owes $40,000 to a loan shark. A loan shark who loves Jimmy (Leonard Flowers, a real Special Olympics athlete), a six-year-in-a-row gold medal winner in the Special Olympics. This gives Gary, the slime ball that he is, his brilliant plan. He wants Steve to act mentally challeneged and enter the Special Olympics so he can beat Jimmy. Gary will bet money on him and win and both their debts will be paid.
To Steve’s credit he really doesn’t like the idea and doesn’t want to go through with it. Only after a visit to Stavi with his five kids in the hospital does Steve give in to the persistent Gary. And Steve really doesn’t get into it until he’s introduced to Lynn (Katherine Heigl), a women, another great plot device for any movie. Steve’s fake name is Jeffy, what’s his last name? Dahmer. Yes, Jeffy Dahmer.
So Steve starts acting “special” and trying to fit in with the other athletes. This is where the film gets away from routine and starts getting good. The athletes (mostly played by real Special Olympic athletes) call Steve on his BS right away. However, after Steve explains why he’s doing it the get behind him. They don’t like Jimmy and they want to see him lose.
The real heart of this movie shines through as we see the relationship develop between Steve and the other athletes. We see them as real people and not just “special.” There are some really hilarious moments in here.
Does Jeffy beat Jimmy in the final event? Does Steve get Lynn even though he’s pretending to be Jeffy? Guess you’ll just have to see the movie for yourself and find out.
This movie has its ups and downs, starting out slow and formulaic before getting to the good stuff, and the end… well the end falls back into the formulaic, tying everything up a little too neatly, a little too easily and a little too quickly. It’s just like, oh, the movie’s over, ok….
Brain Cox is great as always as the slimy Uncle Gary and Knoxville does a good job playing a guy who is really torn. He knows what he’s doing is wrong but he really wants to help Stavi get his fingers back. And of course Lynn has a jerk boyfriend (Zen Gesner). Don’t they all have jerk boyfriends? But the real stars of this film are the real mentally challenged athletes turned actors whose characters are treated with the respect and heart they deserve.
This film is kind of frustrating because it could have been a fantastic movie. There are just too many all too familiar plot devices used which bring it down a lot.
And did I mention that the Kids of Widney High perform at a party in the movie? Friggin’ amazing!
STORY: 6/10
ACTING: 8/10
LOOK/FEEL: 6/10
ORIGINALITY: 5/10
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 9/10
Total POINTS: 34/50
Final SCORE: 7/10
The DVD:
The Video:
Presented in both 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and modified 1.33:1 Full Screen. The transfer is great. This movie looks good. Cinematographer Mark Irwin didn’t do anything special in this film, the shots almost make it look like it was shot for TV.
The Audio:
English 5.1 Dolby Surround & Spanish Dolby Surround. The sound in this film is great and when The Kids of Widney High take the stage it sound like they’re rockin’ right there in your living room!
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes: 16 of these bad Oscars. Most of them are pretty poor but there’s a few good laughs in here. Definitely worth your time.
Special Olympics Featurette: A short, poorly made, but worth watching little featurette about the Special Olympics. It’s obvious that the Special Olympics put this together themselves probably not just for inclusion on this DVD. Very inspirational. Some great shots of The Governator hanging out with the athletes.
“Let The Games Begin: A Look At The Ringer” Featurette: This is a great little featurette that gives you a better idea of where the filmmakers were coming from with this. There’s some great interviews with the cast and with the Special Olympics GUY who said that he wasn’t sure about Knoxville for the role until after he talked to a few athletes who said that after kids hear Knoxville say “Don’t call them retards, they’re my friends!” maybe they won’t get picked on as much anymore. Which really is, I think, the best thing this film could do.
A Message from Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver: Tim Shriver talks for a few minutes about the Special Olympics and what it’s about and how special all the athletes are.
Audio Commentary: by Barry Blaustein, director, Ricky Blitt, screenwriter, Peter Farrelly, producer, Johnny Knoxville, Edward Barbanell & John Taylor. This is a decent commentary. A lot of goofing around to keep lively (a lot of jokes about Knoxville sleeping with every girl on the set), a lot of no-brainer comments, (“Brian Cox is a brilliant actor!”) and interesting information like how they wanted the approval from the Special Olympics from the beginning. There’s also the addition of two of the real life Special Olympic Athletes, Barbanell & Taylor. They don’t talk a lot but their comments are great. Barbanell says, “I admire Al Pacino and Humphrey Bogart, but I think I’m far better and superior than he is. Because they have no feeling, no fervor, I have that feeling and fervor and I have more conviction.” Also, Barbanell and Taylor talk about some of their own experiences dealing with their intellectual challenges, which I think does a better job of giving you insight into their lives than anything in the film.
Score: 8/10
