Steve, played by Johnny Knoxville, is in a bit of a pickle in The Ringer. Not having the heart to fire a janitor at the office where he works, he gets the man a job mowing the lawn at his apartment complex -- a move that results in an accident leaving the janitor minus a few fingers. How will Steve find the money for the necessary surgery?

Perhaps Uncle Gary (Brian Cox) can help. Because Gary owes a huge debt to some unsavory loan sharks, he cooks up a scheme to get them both out of hot water: rig the Special Olympics. Nice guy Steve, of course, reacts in horror to the idea of impersonating a mentally-handicapped man and cleaning up on a bet, but he sees no other way to solve his problem. 

Unexpectedly, some of Steve's fellow competitors aren't fooled by his act. But instead of turning him in, they help him train so that he can best a six-time Special Olympics champion (Leonard Flowers) who's turned into an egotistical jerk. And, after falling in love with a beautiful volunteer (Katherine Heigl), Steve finds himself under even more pressure to maintain his ruse. 

When I first saw previews for The Ringer, I thought this movie looked like most offensive mainstream film ever put into production. Thankfully, The Ringer is wise enough not to fall into this trap. The infamous Farrelly Brothers, Peter and Bobby, are on board as producers, and their track record is comprised heavily of comedies that wander into the realm of bad taste but never get mean. The Ringer follows in this tradition, as it treats its mentally-challenged characters with respect and care, depicting them as actual people instead of opportunities for comedic set pieces. 

Knoxville plays an essentially decent guy who nervously nudges himself along, aware that what he's doing is incredibly wrong on so many levels. As the story progresses, he's given more reasons to move on with the con. No matter when he chooses blow his cover, he'll get burned at the stake, so he might as well try and pull it off for a good cause.

Still, despite all the care the filmmakers took to make The Ringer as pleasing and respectful as possible, they ignored giving as much attention to creating a consistently amusing comedy. Remove the Special Olympics elements from the plot, and The Ringer remains a pretty hit-and-miss film in terms of delivering laughs. Many of the gags revolve around Johnny Knoxville getting seriously injured in some way, shape, or form (be it falling from a tall ladder or getting repeatedly punched in the gut), which soon got tiring for yours truly. Plus the Special Olympics angle is always present to provide an awkward feeling amidst the jokes (if I'm laughing during a comedy involving Special Olympics athletes, does it mean I'm laughing at them?).

Although its intentions seem geared toward evoking a few goofy-hearted laughs rather than serving as social commentary, The Ringer is much more modest than it needs to be, breezing through such complex subplots as Steve falling for the volunteer while pretending to be a mentally-challenged person -- without pausing to realize how complicated such situations really can be.  

The Ringer is probably the best film that could have been made based on such a risky premise. It certainly has a good heart. But considering the few true laughs it gets, there's little difference between this movie and any other flick you'd pick up while blindfolded in the comedy section of the video store.

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures and rated "PG-13" for crude and sexual humor, language and some drug references.)