The Ringer: Critic Reviews

Knoxville's willingness to go to any length to humiliate himself for a laugh actually serves his guilt-ridden character, but the movie's real stars are the Special Olympians, who aren't trying to be inspirational or even likable, just funny.

A hilarious and resourceful cast of intellectually challenged actors smartens up an otherwise brain-dead comedy produced by the Farrelly brothers.

No matter how daring today's comedies think they are, someone has been there before and done it funnier.

The Ringer is caught between a rock and a soft place. The result of being torn between here and there is being stuck nowhere.

In striving to be fair beyond reproach, this movie misses many chances to be funnier. Good comedy doesn't make that choice, and great comedy doesn't have to.

An uncomfortable intermingling of message movie and gross-out comedy, a sporadically funny vehicle that indicts its audience for laughing. Come on, guys. You can't have your fun and eat it too.

No one will accuse The Ringer of being tasteful, but when you're not laughing, you may find yourself genuinely touched.

There's something about a movie deft enough to have fun with mental disability, yet still get a stamp of approval from the Special Olympics.

The Ringer could have been a better movie, but that would have depended more on the screenplay than the cast, which is effective and generates real affection.

In all its lobbying for our laughter, The Ringer feels too lawyered-up and politically positioned to trigger much laughter at all.

The Ringer is a much sweeter comedy than its pedigree suggests. In fact, it's almost the opposite of what we expect.

Though The Ringer is hardly the Farrellys' best, you'll probably be smiling, too.

The bark of The Ringer is far more outrageous than its bite.

You could make a very funny comedy about a guy who pretends to be retarded so he can win the Special Olympics, but The Ringer isn't it.

The worthwhile bits are few and far between. In the rush to avoid exploiting the athletes, the filmmakers have stuck it to the audience instead. Not funny.

A paint-by-numbers romantic comedy most notable for its determined inoffensiveness.

The Ringer, for all its glaring flaws, pulls the rug out from under us.

This wannabe daring comedy about a man who attempts to 'fix' the Special Olympics strains for that patented naughty and nice balance with squirmingly squishy results.

Though the movie bears some of the Farrellys' trademark outrageous humor, it has a sweet demeanor and makes a noble statement.