The Ringer
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: December 23, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
12
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie surprised me. It treats its disabled characters with affection and respect, it has a plot that uses the Special Olympics instead of misusing them, and it's actually kind of sweet. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The surprise of The Ringer is that the movie is pretty damn funny. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
The movie's shockingly tasteless setup is also its secret weapon. Despite many scenes in The Ringer that could individually be viewed as politically incorrect, audiences will be laughing with the athletes most of the time. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
These guys are laugh-out-loud funny, not because they're being belittled, but because they're finally getting a chance to show a sense of humor onscreen. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
If anything, The Ringer doesn't go far enough to exploit its edgy premise, but it does have two conceits that consistently pay off: Knoxville turns out to be a lesser athlete than his competitors, and he's so bad at acting "retarded" that only the unchallenged buy into his ruse. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Though the movie bears some of the Farrellys' trademark outrageous humor, it has a sweet demeanor and makes a noble statement. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
If the movie were as funny as it is well-meaning, this would be one for the ages. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
No one will accuse The Ringer of being tasteful, but when you're not laughing, you may find yourself genuinely touched. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's the supporting characters' combination of smarts and sass, not to mention an honest and positive depiction of the mentally challenged, that turns this potentially crude and heartless comedy into something that the Special Olympics actually endorses. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An odd and not wholly successful little comedy. Its pacing is slack, and although it has a gentle heart, it treads so gingerly across the minefield of potential offensiveness that it sometimes snuffs out its sparks of life as quickly as it throws them off. Read full review
60
EmpireSimon Braund
As with "Stuck On You," this is proof that when the Farrellys are involved (even as mere producers), ribald yet humane comedy can be mined from the most potentially offensive sources. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyTim Grierson
The movie strains so hard to have its heart in the right place that it never really exploits the guilty-pleasure fun of the premise. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
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. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Sometimes veering close to being a promotional film for the Special Olympics, pic will be applauded by the disability community and its advocates but quickly ignored by longtime fans of the Farrellys and Knoxville. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNathan Lee
At the sweet heart of this silly film is a determination to upend the clichés and assumptions applied to the population we condescendingly label "special." Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Knoxville is functional only when the movie needs a bravura comic performance, but The Ringer is easy enough to take. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Whether Ringer, with its mild comedy and milder messages about inclusiveness and tolerance, will be embraced by Knoxville's hardcore "Jackass" fans remains to be seen. But we can at least trust that the Farrellys will stay the course. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate Taylor
The Ringer is a movie whose good intentions shine a lot brighter than its art. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Not extreme enough to skate the edge of tasteless farce and not straight enough to play the material for edgy satire, The Ringer is a cheat right down to the final stretch. Breaking the rules should be more fun than this. Read full review
40
Washington PostStephen Hunter
More than predictable. It plods along with the inevitability of a doomed soldier going off to war. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAkiva Gottlieb
An uncomfortable intermingling of message movie and gross-out comedy, a sporadically funny vehicle that indicts its audience for laughing. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJanice Page
Come on. You want to know if it's funny. And the answer is: kind of. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldPeter Debruge
Instead of watching a professional actor pretending to be intellectually disabled, we're watching a jackass pretending to be a dimwit pretending to be intellectually disabled. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A flimsy setup dooms this from the start, though its sheer awfulness is something to see. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Knoxville, Jed Rees and Bill Chott act daffy and more impaired than their counterparts, and that never sat right with me. This may not be the equivalent of acting in blackface, but it's awfully close. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
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. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's getting harder to sustain a rooting interest in the career of Johnny Knoxville. Read full review
8
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The Ringer is appalling. Read full review
0
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
The Ringer is astoundingly craptastic not because the handicapped are handled poorly (though if they were paid more than union scale I'd be surprised), but because it's one of the most singularly unfunny films ever made. Read full review
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