It’s hard to explain The Ringer and have it not sound offensive. That’s because the premise — a man pretends to be mentally challenged and enters the Special Olympics so his uncle can bet on him to win a lot of money — is offensive. It’s also funny and, believe it or not, it has a message.
Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville) hates his job. He works up the courage to ask for a position with more responsibility. His first task? Fire Stavi (Luis Avalos), the company janitor. Not having the courage to actually fire him, Barker offers to hire him to mow the grass at his apartment complex. When an accident causes Stavi to lose three fingers, Steve is reponsible for paying the bill for surgery. He needs to raise money fast because Stavi’s fingers won’t last forever on ice.
Enter Steve’s Uncle Gary (Brian Cox), a deadbeat gambler, who comes up with a plan to enter Steve into the Special Olympics. Gary’s theory is that Steve, who was a track star of sorts in high school, should easily beat the mentally challenged. Once “the fix” is in, Gary and Steve stand to make a lot of money and all will be well for Steve, Gary and, of course, Stavi.
Still with me? The Ringer is not as blatantly offensive as it sounds. I hesitate to call it a feel-good movie but you will walk away from it feeling more enlightened than offended. Any preconceptions you might have about the Special Olympics and its participants will disappear. Steve’s mentally challenged persona, Jeffy, is outed as a fraud by his roommates at the Olympics pretty quickly. Their reaction to his put-on is one of the many surprises that The Ringer has in store for those that might think they know what will happen.
Johnny Knoxville, who’s better known as “that guy from ‘Jackass'”, proves himself to be a likable comedic leading man. His romantic interest, Katherine Heigl, is limited to being the usual female lead in comedies: incredibly attractive, but lacking any type of self-awareness about her desirability or that she’s being taken advantage of by her rich and “perfect” boyfriend. (Trust me, I’m not spoiling anything there.)
The Ringer won’t win any awards for originality but it made me laugh out loud quite a few times and never offended me. That’s all I can ask of a comedy with a concept involving the mentally challenged. If you don’t write it off as a result of the concept, you might be surprised to find yourself laughing as well.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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