The Ringer (2005)
★½ — The Ringer (2005)
Barry W. Blaustein is probably best known as a screenwriter (Coming to America, Boomerang) and the documentary filmmaker behind Beyond the Mat, and The Ringer represents his second and, to date, last outing as a narrative feature director. Released through Fox Searchlight in 2005, the film carries the notable distinction of being officially endorsed by Special Olympics International, whose involvement was central to getting the production made at all. The Farrelly Brothers served as producers, which explains a good deal about the film's comic sensibility and its attempt to situate itself within the gross-out-but-good-hearted tradition those two had established through the late 1990s. Knoxville, still riding the Jackass wave at the time, took the lead role, with Brian Cox and a pre-Grey's Anatomy Katherine Heigl rounding out the main cast.
Robert Downey Jr.’s line in Tropic Thunder hits hard here: “You never go full retard.” The Ringer is one of those comedies that tries to punch up but ends up punching down, hard. Starring Johnny Knoxville and built around the cringeworthy premise of a guy faking an intellectual disability to rig the Special Olympics, it’s not just poorly executed, it feels fundamentally wrong. The humour relies almost entirely on mocking people with disabilities, speech patterns, and behaviours that cross way past satire into outright exploitation. Look, I get that the film claims to have a heart, that it “celebrates” the athletes or “humanises” them in the end. But you can’t spend 80 minutes laughing at stereotypes and expect redemption in the final ten minutes. The tone is all over the place: part slapstick, part fake-inspiration, all awkward. Knoxville isn’t even particularly funny here, his usual chaotic charm is buried under lazy gags and a script that thinks saying “I’m not supposed to win!” makes everything okay. It’s technically the worst, but because it fails so badly on a moral level. Offensive, outdated, and painfully unfunny.
Rating: ★½ | Year: 2005 | Watched: 2025-09-18
Where to watch (UK)
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Barry W. Blaustein: Beyond the Mat (1999)
More with Johnny Knoxville: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) · Skiptrace (2016) · The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) · Walking Tall (2004)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
