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'The Ringer' a sweet surprise
BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 - 12:04:03 am CST

The Farrelly Brothers and Johnny Knoxville combine to make a movie about a guy who fakes being intellectually challenged so he can enter the Special Olympics to win a bet.

On the surface, that sounds like a sure recipe for an exercise in bad taste. But “The Ringer” is surprisingly sweet and knowing and comes with the stamp of approval from Special Olympics, certifying that the joke is largely on Knoxville and Brian Cox, who plays his sleazy uncle who concocts the bet.

Knoxville plays Steve Barker, an aspiring manager at a company whose first assignment is to fire the firm’s long-time janitor Stavi (Luis Avalos). Unable to pull the trigger on the kind man, Steve hires him to do yard work at his house, where Stavi has a lawn mower accident, losing his fingers and landing in the hospital with no insurance.

Steve has promised him benefits, so he goes to the only guy he can think of who might have access to big money — his sleazeball gambler uncle Gary (Brian Cox). But Gary is deep in debt himself and his bookie is about ready to make things real ugly.

So Gary hatches the lowest of all lowball, slimy schemes: Steve will impersonate an intellectually challenged athlete, enter the Special Olympics and beat six-time Gold Medal pentathlete Jimmy Flowers (real life Special Olympics champ Leonard Flowers). Gary will place a huge wager on Steve and everybody wins.

That’s when things get fun. Steve becomes Jeffy and is befriended by a group of Special Olympians, who are played by a combination of character actors and intellectually challenged actors who have competed in the Special Olympics, including Edward Barbanell, who plays Jeffy’s roommate Billy.

He doesn’t quite fit in and then finds that he’s not going to run away with the competition. Jeffy/Steve also falls in love with Lynn Sheridan (Katherine Heigl), but he can’t let her figure out that he’s a faker, although some of his friendly competitors suspect what’s up.

“The Ringer” isn’t gut-busting funny. But there are some laughs, most often at Knoxville’s expense. And the clowning of the Special Olympians is natural and very real.

That’s a measure of the understanding that screenwriter Ricky Blitt and director Barry Blaustein bring to the picture. Sure, there’s some measure of political incorrectness in the film — that’s the setup for the humor. But the bad taste never comes close to going over the top, and as the movie plays out, the heart and essential goodness of the athletes and staff comes to the fore.

As the plot description should indicate, the story line is plenty predictable, but the setting is different enough and Knoxville has enough charm to offset much of that.

The real reason to see the picture, however, is to watch the Special Olympians, whether played by the character actors or the real athletes. I’ve coached Special Olympics teams in basketball, bowling and golf and have found it the most rewarding experience I’ve had in sports.

“The Ringer” captures something of what makes the Special Olympics and its competitors so special and so much fun. For that, the Farrellys, Blaustein, Blitt, Knoxville and especially the intellectually challenged actors are to be commended.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.