Time for another Flashback Review, for the first time in my blog, it is a sports related movie and one of my favorite comedies besides Spaceballs, Hot Fuzz, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. One of them is called, “The Ringer.”
The film was produced by The Farrelly Brothers, (Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary) the lead star of the movie is Johnny Knoxville, (MTV’s Jackass, The Dukes Of Hazard, Bad Grandpa) who plays Steve Barker, a nice guy who’s caught in the middle of a financial situation, with no other choice, he’s forced to compete in The Special Olympics so that his Uncle Gary, played by Brian Cox, (Stryker, the main antagonist from X2: X-Men United) can bet on him, if he wins, he’ll win a lot of money.
The Ringer came out in December, 2005. It was a modest box office success, however, the film received mixed reviews. Roger Ebert it 3 out of 4 stars while other critics called it predicable.
The following review contains no SPOILERS, just in case if you haven’t seen the entire movie.
Gold: Johnny Knoxville delivers a likable and hilarious performance. As a bonus, Knoxville performed all the physical comedy by himself, he’s use to it because he’s been doing these stunts since Jackass.
Supporting Cast members such as Brian Cox, Bill Chott, Jed Rees, (Jared from Deadpool) and Edward Barbanell, also did a great job on their laugh out loud performances.
Chemistry between Knoxville and Katherine Heigl’s characters felt balanced.
For a Comedy, the film manages to use Jospeh Campbell’s monomyth, The Hero’s Journey, to craft The Three Act Structure.
One character said my favorite word of all time, “faker.” I’m always using this word to give a Final Verdict if something I really hate or just plain stupid.
Similar to Inside Out creating a similar (not identical) premise to Osmosis Jones, The Ringer’s plot is inspired by an episode of South Park, with Cartman pretending to be handicapped in order to compete at The Special Olympics except this time, Knoxville’s character isn’t doing that for money, he’s doing it for a good cause or as they say, the greater good.
The Villain depicted in this film, reflects Pride, one of The Seven Deadly Sins due to his overconfidence and he’s an overachiever.
In one scene, Peter Griffin from Family Guy, appears on a TV screen.
Best Line in this movie has something to do with ice cream. If you’ve seen it, you’ll probably get.
Comedic moments got me laughing including Steve’s name for his alter-ego to compete in The Special Olympics made me laugh so hard. I refuse to tell you the name, you’ll have to watch it for yourself.
During a Training Montage, the film plays the theme song from the classic 1960 western, The Magnificent Seven.
There’s a scene during the credits, don’t forget!
Coal: Product Placement featuring Yoo-Hoo, Coca-Cola, Costco, Powerade, Joe’s Crabshack, Minute Maid. I’m gonna be honest, because its a sports-related movie, I’ll give the film a pass because in real life, football, basketball and soccer related games features sponsored products.
The film ends with a Freeze Frame. I thinks its kinda cheesy, this technique makes me want to say something random like a narrator would do in a specific soap opera for instance, “Will they stay together, find out next time in so and so!”
The Final Verdict: A-
In my opinion, I’ve actually enjoyed the movie. I highly recommend this movie. If you don’t have anything to do during the weekend, go out and give it a watch. There’s only one thing I have to say, what the heck is wrong with the critics out there?! Come on! That was an amazing movie, it wasn’t on the same level as Adam Sandler in Jack & Jill or Bio-Dome!
Nickthemoviecritic.com 