Wrong? Yes. Offensive? Depends on who you are. Funny?...

Rating: 4/10 (29 December 2005)

The ringer sounds like a perfectly teenage comedy. A bum (Johhny Knoxville) bets that he can win the special Olympics by acting retarded, in order to pay for a surgery of his dear beloved friend. ALong the way, not only does he learn a lesson, but he makes new friends, and falls in love. Doesn't that just wanna make you go 'Awwwwwww'? Well, Barry W. Blaustein thought it would, so here we are to another flick by the man that released his last halfway-decent movie (Beyond the Mat) over six years ago. How does is stack up to the other flicks in the theaters? Should you really go see King Kong? Is Narnia really that great? Is it worth it to see Harry Potter? The answer is no, it doesn't come even close. Now to start off this review, I'm going to explain a few of the cons of the movie, simply because I'd be here all day if I tried to accomplish the vice versa. For one, Johhny Knoxville delivers a righteous performance that at times makes you believe that he really is retarded. Being one of the creators of Jackass, that might not be too far off the mark, but let's get back to the movie. Another plus to this joyous stereotype of what retards are actually like, is that the movie has actual mentally challenged actors. No, I'm not talking about Knoxville, I'm talking about real-blooded actors here. The final, and probably most noticeable positive aspect of this movie, is that Brian Cox delivers a few punchlines that make you wanna chuckle, forgetting the fact that he was involved with three other films while this one was being shot and that he was obviously in for the money. Now let's take a preview of the bad-comings. First of all, the movie is just plain stale, stealing-- er-- "borrowing" aspects from nearly every other movie of its kind. You have to numb your brain down way past the standards of those in the actual special Olympics to not see whats coming next. Heck, ten minutes into the flick I'd mapped out exactly how'd it come to a close. Another flaw of the film is how unbelievably unfunny it is. Simply put, most of the jokes are either half-assed, unoriginal, or torn from the scripts of other movies word-by-word. Now, before we all start growing gray hairs, let me mention the final and most annoying con of the entire movie: the fact that it not only tries to be a retarded (literally) comedy, but that it makes the effort to try and become a romance. Yes, you heard me, a romance. I'm not talking about a little bit of lovin on the sides, I mean that halfway through the movie it becomes something you'd swear you'd seen on the Lifetime channel, which the writer of this flick called lifetime television for idiots (on his former project, Family guy). So now as this review comes to a close, lemme say one thing: if you really don't wish to see a three-hour-long movie in theaters thats actually good, then skip over to Blockbuster and rent 'Pieces of April'. It's not like anyone actually watched it. Otherwise, stay far away from The Ringer, and spend that seven-dollar price of admission on things more useful, like say, a book (things that you read), or maybe even a used copy of the Jackass movie: its the same exact movie, only without a script.