听 When the Farrelly brothers announced they were producing a comedy starring Johnny Knoxville as man pretending to be handicapped to win the Special Olympics, it was bound to raise eyebrows. Curiously though, instead of being faulted for bad taste, the film was slated for being too tame and containing lots of "preachy pap". It received a similarly lukewarm reception at the box office.
Olympic Hug-a-Thon
The preaching continues in three featurettes. A look behind-the-scenes in Let The Games Begin, hears from Peter Farrelly who insists that this film is not just a series of cheap gags but "a beautiful thing" that will "make the people of the Special Olympics proud." Likewise, Knoxville proclaims that he's happy to do his bit to "knock down a lot of the stereotypes" while disabled co-stars John Taylor and Edward Barbanell remind us that it's important to have a sense of humour in tackling the challenges life throws at you. Perhaps they can band together and use all this hot air to start an Olympic ballooning event.
Elsewhere the Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver bills the games as "a global movement for change", and encourages more tolerance, togetherness, and teary-eyed handholding and so on. Another promotional film expands on this message by meeting those who have participated in the games. PS - watch closely and you'll see a snippet of Colin Farrell in the spectator stands.
There's more desperate groping for laughs in a commentary by director Barry W Blaustein, Peter Farrelly, screenwriter Ricky Blitt, and the film's key players including Knoxville. Mostly this involves the guys accusing one another of being gay and the occasional anti-Semitic jibe from Blitt who seems really keen to show us how 'edgy' a comedy writer he is. Even so, he confesses, "I was worried people would take away my American citizenship and send me back to Canada," when he was shopping The Ringer script to producers. Later on, Farrelly reveals that, "We kissed a lot of Special Olympic butt to make this movie," including chairman Tim Shriver, so it's really no wonder the film turned out as insipid and moralising mush.
For something completely different, there's a sneak preview of Kiefer Sutherland/Michael Douglas thriller The Sentinel, but that's not enough to save this DVD from a gold medal in mediocrity.
EXTRA FEATURES
The Ringer is released on DVD on Monday 24th July.
