HTF REVIEW: The Ringer (1 Viewer)

[Michael Osadciw]

THE RINGER


Studio: 20th Century Fox
Film Year: 2005
Film Length: 94 minutes
Genre: Comedy

Aspect Ratio:

2.35:1 Theatrical Ratio
1.33:1 Pan & Scan

Colour/B&W: Colour

Audio:
English 5.1 Surround

Spanish 2.0 Surround

Subtitles: Spanish, French
Film Rating:







Release Date: May 16, 2006.


Film Rating: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Johnny Knoxville (Steve Barker), Katherine Heigl (Lynn), Jed Rees (Glen)

Written by: Berry Ricky Blitt
Directed by: Barry W. Blaustein


Special has been redefined.


Hmmm. That’s my initial reaction to Fox’s new comedy The Ringer. In this Farrelly Brothers-produced film, Johnny Knoxville plays Steve Barker, a guy who lets his niceness become his handicap in life. At the starting line, the movie shows how Steve is too nice to fire an immigrant employee, Stavi. Moved by Stavi’s plea to keep his job so he can support his family, Steve offers up a job at his apartment in exchange – including the promise to have health insurance. Well, that was Steve’s biggest mistake because after Stavi loses his fingers in an accident, Steve is left in a financial crisis as he tries to fix the mistake of promising Stavi health insurance. So where is he going to get the money that’s racked up to 5-digit figures?

After seeking financial advice from an uncle who owes money himself, Steve is eventually convinced to join the Special Olympics and pose as a mentally challenged person. By rigging the Special Olympics he hopes to bring home the gold and have enough money to help Stavi out. While Steve may have good intentions, he’s doing it with bad intentions elsewhere. But Steve’s fellow competitors catch on to this fix; but instead of blowing his cover they help him out to become a better person. Can Steve complete the Olympics without being caught? What does he do about his love for beautiful Lynn, one of the volunteer organizers of the Olympics? How would she react if she knew he was a fake?

Johnny Knoxville plays his role genuinely as the nice guy – you feel for him as he gets down on his luck each time. But the idea of the comedy just didn’t sit well with me most likely because it humours people with disabilities. Still, the film tries to be tasteful so it doesn’t offend the audience too much and makes an effort to show that goodwill of these people is at a higher level than Steve’s. So while I found the idea of the film to be a semi-turn-off, the film improved as it went on to a satisfying end at the finish line.


VIDEO QUALITY :star: :star: :star:

/ :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Both pan & scan and 2.35:1 options are available; I reviewed the widescreen-enhanced 2.35:1 side of the disc, of course. The image quality is considered average for a new film. Viewed on the new Mitsubishi HC-3000 DLP projector, the image lacked fine resolution and looked soft. Details in the grass on the ground and clothing looks slightly smeared. It was also looked a little digitized lacking the smoothness and depth present on other great DVD transfers. Compression artefacts were a problem on this disc as well. In these respects, it was a disappointment. Contrast is acceptable although not stellar. Colours appear natural and not under/overwhelming.


AUDIO QUALITY :star: :star: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Grrr. Another cheaply produced 5.1 soundtrack. Encoded in Dolby Digital, it’s very basic and very simple as I’ve been echoing here for a long time now on HTF. The font soundstage is the only active element of this soundtrack with the centre channel being the most active of all. The left and right channels are moderately used for rock music that (like Grandma’s Boy) only appears for about 5-15 seconds as scenes transition. The songs also don’t seem to represent any meaning for their selection, at least from what I heard. The surround channels are used at a minimum, only providing a hint of extra space in the room and hard directional effects in the surround channels are rarely employed. LFE is virtually non-existent and has little effect on the sound, if any. All of the bass is up in the front left and right channels and can be summed to LFE in your processor if desired.

The tonal quality of the soundtrack is good. I never found the sound too bright or thin; it always had good balance and was easy on the ears. Like most movie soundtracks, some sound effects are recorded aggressively but it was no bother while watching the film.

TACTILE FUN!! ZERO / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
TRANSDUCER ON/OFF?: OFF

Since there is little LFE, there is no need to keep the transducer on. When there was a hint of LFE it was so minimal in terms of tactile effects. It just supplemented the music a bit.


SPECIAL FEATURES :star:

/ :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Viewers of this disc will get a loaded audio commentary featuring Director Barry W. Blaustein, Screenwriter Ricky Blitt, Producer Peter Farrelly and actors Johnny Knoxville, Edward Barbanell and John Taylor. Wow! What a line-up.

The feature of most interest is the 16 deleted scenes that totals about 20 minutes in length. The only disappointing part about this is that a) they are not widescreen enhanced b) they look unfinished and are on some temp composite master c) they look absolutely TERRIBLE. This is the worst-looking batch of deleted scenes I’ve ever seen on a DVD. I’d wish a little more care was gone into this rather than just transferring it off a tape. Fox, the least you could do is go to the film source and provide them in enhanced widescreen.

The other features include a Special Olympics featurette, ”Let the Games Begin: A Look at The Ringer” Featurette, A Message from Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver.


IN THE END...

While some people may like this film I will admit it isn’t one I’m going to be watching twice by choice. There are some humorous moments in the film but overall I was left with a feeling of a C-grade, especially with the average presentation of the DVD.

Michael Osadciw
May 15, 2006.