The Ringer (2005) *

Rating: 2/10 (4 December 2007)

Pretty awful movie about a young man (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass" "fame") who needs to make big cash to help a friend who lost his fingers in a lawn mowing accident. His sleazy uncle gets an idea to get a piece of the action in having his nephew pretend to be a mentally challenged person and then gain admission into the Special Olympics to claim the prize money.
I am actually surprised this movie got made and released at all, given how uptight the politically correct world is today. Truthfully though, I was hoping it would be at least funny in the daring way a film like BORAT had been, and it's not very. Among the cast are some mentally challenged actors. Edward Barbanell, an actor with Down Syndrome, is quite good in his part. A couple of the other performers struck me as ordinary people pretending to be handicapped, but I could be mistaken. I couldn't take my eyes off that adorable Katherine Heigl, who I fell in love with recently after seeing KNOCKED UP, and who plays a counselor here working with the "special people". This would have easily ranked a Zero for me if not for her cuteness. * out of ****