The Ringer
—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVD
—5. Posters Johnny Knoxville
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
I went to see The Ringer because I didn’t think Johnny Knoxville was half-bad as Bo Duke, the premise seemed funny yet redeemable, and I just like going to the movies. I walked away with this belief: everyone should go see The Ringer. It’s not the greatest movie ever, not the greatest soundtrack or acting, and certainly lacks the polish of an Oscar-winner. But you still should go see it—see, the Ringer has that immeasurable thing called heart, and lots of it.
In any other movie, Knoxville as Steve Barker would get all the credit for the movie’s laughs and poignant moments. With the Farrelly brothers pulling all the strings, Knoxville surely had the funny moments nailed down, but this is no ordinary film. As Barker finds himself financially strapped, he falls in with his uncle Gary (Cox), who scams with him to rig the Special Olympics. Steve is at first an unwilling accomplice but he succumbs under pressure (so we immediately recognize that he has ‘good’ qualities, but not immediately noticeable ‘heroic’ ones.) Here, he meets a motley crew of Special Olympians who accept him, catch him acting as ‘intellectually challenged,’ and still love him the way he is.
At the center of the action is the multi-Special Olympic winner Jimmy (Flowers), as the arrogant opponent hated by all, and Lynn (Heigl), a staff worker who befriends Steve aka Jeffy against the wishes of her fiancee. The dynamics or politics within the Special Olympics are hilariously played out as this ‘ringer’ becomes the hero of the other Special Olympians. The memorable moments of the film are often found within the training and growing friendships of this group, as Knoxville falls all over himself, cut down to size by the other Olympians.
Gary’s disdain for the participants in these Olympics is the outsider view of what it means to be intellectually challenged or special. The viewer, like Steve, begins to have an appreciation that grows throughout the film for those participants. While this is a movie, the situations that Steve and his crew find themselves in are realistically depicted to allow us to see the truth provided there. Who do we hold prejudices against? How do we demean other people? Which people do we know whose weaknesses we augment and whose strengths we ignore? How does our worldview cramp our style?
In the end, we know that Steve will learn a lesson, but I hope we all do as we watch. It might not be those who are ‘intellectually challenged’ whom we need to become more aware of, but it’s a good place to start. Jesus Christ made outsiders into insiders, drawing them out of the dark and into the light. (He also had a few lessons on greed, lust, anger and jealousy that the Ringer sheds light on.) We, like Steve, can make decisions too, about what we will go along with when it is wrong or what we will make a stand against for good. Sometimes, like Steve, we may learn that it takes teamwork to make a change.
—Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVD
—5. Posters Johnny Knoxville
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
I went to see The Ringer because I didn’t think Johnny Knoxville was half-bad as Bo Duke, the premise seemed funny yet redeemable, and I just like going to the movies. I walked away with this belief: everyone should go see The Ringer. It’s not the greatest movie ever, not the greatest soundtrack or acting, and certainly lacks the polish of an Oscar-winner. But you still should go see it—see, the Ringer has that immeasurable thing called heart, and lots of it. In any other movie, Knoxville as Steve Barker would get all the credit for the movie’s laughs and poignant moments. With the Farrelly brothers pulling all the strings, Knoxville surely had the funny moments nailed down, but this is no ordinary film. As Barker finds himself financially strapped, he falls in with his uncle Gary (Cox), who scams with him to rig the Special Olympics. Steve is at first an unwilling accomplice but he succumbs under pressure (so we immediately recognize that he has ‘good’ qualities, but not immediately noticeable ‘heroic’ ones.) Here, he meets a motley crew of Special Olympians who accept him, catch him acting as ‘intellectually challenged,’ and still love him the way he is.
At the center of the action is the multi-Special Olympic winner Jimmy (Flowers), as the arrogant opponent hated by all, and Lynn (Heigl), a staff worker who befriends Steve aka Jeffy against the wishes of her fiancee. The dynamics or politics within the Special Olympics are hilariously played out as this ‘ringer’ becomes the hero of the other Special Olympians. The memorable moments of the film are often found within the training and growing friendships of this group, as Knoxville falls all over himself, cut down to size by the other Olympians.
Gary’s disdain for the participants in these Olympics is the outsider view of what it means to be intellectually challenged or special. The viewer, like Steve, begins to have an appreciation that grows throughout the film for those participants. While this is a movie, the situations that Steve and his crew find themselves in are realistically depicted to allow us to see the truth provided there. Who do we hold prejudices against? How do we demean other people? Which people do we know whose weaknesses we augment and whose strengths we ignore? How does our worldview cramp our style?
In the end, we know that Steve will learn a lesson, but I hope we all do as we watch. It might not be those who are ‘intellectually challenged’ whom we need to become more aware of, but it’s a good place to start. Jesus Christ made outsiders into insiders, drawing them out of the dark and into the light. (He also had a few lessons on greed, lust, anger and jealousy that the Ringer sheds light on.) We, like Steve, can make decisions too, about what we will go along with when it is wrong or what we will make a stand against for good. Sometimes, like Steve, we may learn that it takes teamwork to make a change.
—Overview
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