Contained Some Good Laughs, But Was Pretty Bad Overall

Rating: 5/10 (8 May 2016)

The Ringer is directed by Barry W. Blaustein and is the story of a man named Stevie who, when his friend Stavvi loses some fingers, is pressured by his gambling uncle to enter the Special Olympics as a mentally slow man in order to earn a lot of money. After wrongly entering the Special Olympics, Stevie poses as a man named Jeffie, and runs across multiple conflicts throughout his time at the event. That's pretty much the entire movie.
I was actually expecting a complete pile of trash prior to watching The Ringer, but it wasn't completely awful. It had some good comedy throughout parts, and most of the acting was decent. Although The Ringer had some poor direction and a lazy script, it wasn't fully horrible. It had some good aspects.
The best thing for The Ringer was the acting. Johnny Knoxville was pretty good, as both of his characters. He technically was acting as a guy who was acting as another guy, which is somewhat confusing, but he played both Stevie and Jeffie pretty well. Brian Cox, who played Stevie's uncle, was the highlight of this movie for me, due to his good acting. He played a gambling man who was in deep with the wrong people, so he bet on Stevie winning the Special Olympics, and did it well. All of the other acting was fine. Nobody else did great, but there wasn't any bad acting either.
Some of the comedy was pulled off decently well. Although the film was making fun of mentally challenged people, it was supported by the actual Special Olympics, so I guess nobody can really defend them. A few lines that were written for laughs didn't receive any, and some of the jokes were pretty stale. However, a few lines did have me laughing, and laughing hard. Not all of the comedy is bad, just some of it.
The worst thing I found in The Ringer was the direction. It wasn't completely awful, but it was horribly bland and boring. Most of the time, I felt as if I were watching a cheap Lifetime movie, and I shouldn't have felt that way. Most of the shots were very boring, and the direction didn't do anything good for the film at all.
The script was also quite lazy. For example, a specific person's opinion on a subject will change from scene to scene, even though the subject may be a bit touchy. The script quickly brushed over these types of scenarios, and it felt very lazy and rushed. Most of the dialogue was somewhat clichÃ©, and a lot of it was surprisingly flat. Not many lines had me asking questions, or even wanting to see more of the film. That's not a good thing.
Overall, The Ringer wasn't awful, but it most definitely wasn't good. Although it did contain some good acting and some funny comedy, those couldn't save The Ringer from a bad script and poor direction.