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
Steve Barker, played by Johnny Knoxville in the new film The Ringer, is a loser.
It’s not because he turns to motivational tapes to help him advance in a dead-end job he really doesn’t want. It’s not because, rather than follow orders to fire a friend, he hires him as a personal groundskeeper and doesn’t make arrangements for adequate healthcare when his friend has an accident. And it’s especially not because he lets his uncle con him into paying off his debts by fixing the Special Olympics as a contestant.
Steve Barker is a loser because he never pursues his dreams. And he’s a loser because he believes it when others say he will never achieve them. The Ringer is a winner of a film because it shows that we all have our dreams and obstacles, but we can only succeed if we give it our best shot.
With the film’s producers including Bobby and Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary), The Ringer has the over-the-top slapstick one might expect. One of the best examples comes from the film’s trailer, when Barker, who has been masquerading as a high-functioning developmentally disabled Special Olympian, confesses his scam to a priest. The priest’s fist crashes through the confessional screen into Barker’s face, and he physically throws Barker from the church. There also are multiple running gags involving a subplot with Stavi (Luis Avalos), an aging janitor and widowed father of five who cuts off several fingers while working with Steve’s lawn mower. Steve’s low-life uncle Gary (Brian Cox) uses the incident, and Steve’s financial obligations to Stavi, as the motivation for Steve to persist in the scam.
Renamed by his uncle as “Jeffy Dahmor,� Steve, a former high-school track star, begins to discover winning isn’t quite the cake walk his uncle anticipated. The scam fools everyone – except a number of Steve’s fellow competitors. But rather than turn Steve in, they share in his concern for Stavi and become his teachers and friends – in part to help defeat a five-time Special Olympic gold medalist who has begun to annoy them all. They wake Steve up in the wee hours each morning, put him through a grueling training regimen and teach him how to be a true Special Olympian – in every sense of the word.
When Steve confesses at one point that he dreamed of being an actor, they ask him where his dream ended. Hollywood? Broadway? Summer stock theater? Steve admits he never gave it a real effort.
“People tell us all the time what we will never do,� one of the Special Olympians tells Steve, citing several routine physical functions he was able to achieve despite others’ doubtful prognostications. “I would never have done all these things [if I had listened to them].�
The 94-minute film is rated PG-13 for crude humor, some of it sexual. One of the characters, Uncle Gary, makes repeated offensive references to people with developmental disabilities who compete in the Special Olympics. But the film actually has the blessing of Special Olympics and several cast members, including Barker’s roommate, are Special Olympics veterans. In addition, The Ringer does an excellent job showing the range of ways others interact with people with developmental disabilities. As a reporter who covered the 1987 International Special Olympic games, I particularly appreciated the accurate depiction of the range of competitors – from the highly skilled whose motivation is no different from any other athlete’s to the more prevalent participant whose greatest reward is simply the trademark hug at the end of any feat attempted.
The funniest parts in this film won’t produce belly-aching laughs as moments in other Farrelly brothers films have. Ultimately, the strength of this film is not the comedy its makers intended, but the delightful and enchanting moments that occur as Steve interacts with his fellow Special Olympians and learns how to be a better person – the kind he dreamed of being.
—Overview
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages
—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
Steve Barker, played by Johnny Knoxville in the new film The Ringer, is a loser.
It’s not because he turns to motivational tapes to help him advance in a dead-end job he really doesn’t want. It’s not because, rather than follow orders to fire a friend, he hires him as a personal groundskeeper and doesn’t make arrangements for adequate healthcare when his friend has an accident. And it’s especially not because he lets his uncle con him into paying off his debts by fixing the Special Olympics as a contestant.Steve Barker is a loser because he never pursues his dreams. And he’s a loser because he believes it when others say he will never achieve them. The Ringer is a winner of a film because it shows that we all have our dreams and obstacles, but we can only succeed if we give it our best shot.
With the film’s producers including Bobby and Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary), The Ringer has the over-the-top slapstick one might expect. One of the best examples comes from the film’s trailer, when Barker, who has been masquerading as a high-functioning developmentally disabled Special Olympian, confesses his scam to a priest. The priest’s fist crashes through the confessional screen into Barker’s face, and he physically throws Barker from the church. There also are multiple running gags involving a subplot with Stavi (Luis Avalos), an aging janitor and widowed father of five who cuts off several fingers while working with Steve’s lawn mower. Steve’s low-life uncle Gary (Brian Cox) uses the incident, and Steve’s financial obligations to Stavi, as the motivation for Steve to persist in the scam.
Renamed by his uncle as “Jeffy Dahmor,� Steve, a former high-school track star, begins to discover winning isn’t quite the cake walk his uncle anticipated. The scam fools everyone – except a number of Steve’s fellow competitors. But rather than turn Steve in, they share in his concern for Stavi and become his teachers and friends – in part to help defeat a five-time Special Olympic gold medalist who has begun to annoy them all. They wake Steve up in the wee hours each morning, put him through a grueling training regimen and teach him how to be a true Special Olympian – in every sense of the word.
When Steve confesses at one point that he dreamed of being an actor, they ask him where his dream ended. Hollywood? Broadway? Summer stock theater? Steve admits he never gave it a real effort.
“People tell us all the time what we will never do,� one of the Special Olympians tells Steve, citing several routine physical functions he was able to achieve despite others’ doubtful prognostications. “I would never have done all these things [if I had listened to them].�
The 94-minute film is rated PG-13 for crude humor, some of it sexual. One of the characters, Uncle Gary, makes repeated offensive references to people with developmental disabilities who compete in the Special Olympics. But the film actually has the blessing of Special Olympics and several cast members, including Barker’s roommate, are Special Olympics veterans. In addition, The Ringer does an excellent job showing the range of ways others interact with people with developmental disabilities. As a reporter who covered the 1987 International Special Olympic games, I particularly appreciated the accurate depiction of the range of competitors – from the highly skilled whose motivation is no different from any other athlete’s to the more prevalent participant whose greatest reward is simply the trademark hug at the end of any feat attempted.
The funniest parts in this film won’t produce belly-aching laughs as moments in other Farrelly brothers films have. Ultimately, the strength of this film is not the comedy its makers intended, but the delightful and enchanting moments that occur as Steve interacts with his fellow Special Olympians and learns how to be a better person – the kind he dreamed of being.
—Overview
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages
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