It's even better the 2nd time around

Rating: 10/10 (23 October 2006)

I may be one of the most critical movie critics on the internet. I can find fault with almost any movie. Between going to the movies, watching them on the Dish, and getting deluged with movies from Netflix, I was fast getting tired of the same violent, mindless, terrorist plots, Las Vegas robberies, meet the parents nonsense, boring boy meets boring girl fluff, and kissing cowboys movies. So when I saw the trailer for The Ringer, I thought, "This one looks different and original". And BOY was I correct. The Ringer may be one of the best and funniest movies nobody ever heard of. It's a shame that some people and advertisers probably shied away from it because it sounded too controversial and politically incorrect, but it wasn't at all. Not only was the movie funny, but the acting was terrific. Some of the lines were very clever and knocked me off my feet.
I had never heard of Johnny Knoxville. I thought he was some kind of country western singer. Never saw Jackasss and have no desire to. But Johnny was superb as "Jeffy. So much so that I no longer do "Rainman" impersonations. Now I go around doing a "Jeffy" routine. Kathrine Heigl was excellent as Jeffy's love interest. She was perky and sexy and I was rooting for her and Jeffy to fall in love. Brian Cox as Jeffy's uncle was very realistic as a con man/loser who manipulated his nephew "Steve", into trying to fix the Special Olympics. What a novel idea, and the director and cast pulled it off perfectly. Nobody can get offended by this movie since the Special kids were so lovable and showed how much they CAN do instead of what they CAN'T do. So go see this heartwarming little film at least once. It will be a Special treat for you.