The film stars Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame as Steve Barker, a “nice guy” trapped in a nine-to-five desk job with no backbone and little hope. When granted the promotion he asks for, Barker’s boss promptly directs him to fire Stavi, a widowed janitor with five children. Out of sympathy, Barker hires Stavi as a gardener, only to witness him cut off three of his own fingers in a lawnmower accident. Faced with the challenge of raising money for the operation to sew Stavi’s fingers back on, Barker enlists the help of his petty uncle Gary to quickly raise the cash. Gary comes up with the dubious plan of rigging the Special Olympics to pay off his own debt and help Barker raise the necessary funds. To get hold of the prize money, Barker will have to act like a mentally challenged athlete (“Jeffy”) and beat Jimmy, the six-time defending pentathlon champion.

Directed by Barry Blaustein and produced by the Farrelly brothers, who have gravitated towards similar subject matter before (remember Dumb and Dumber?), the film painfully aims to garner uproars from the audience with cleverly placed one-liners from the special athletes and egregious physical injuries to Knoxville. The immature humor struck home with the teenage boys in the audience, but was lost on older, more mature viewers. The film utilizes the term “retard” frequently and condescendingly portrays mentally handicapped individuals as sources of humor and little else. Johnny Knoxville’s range as an actor proves non-existent as he exploits his limited abilities in every scene. He never fully gets into the character of Jeffy, never attempts to show mentally challenged individuals in a positive light, and falls short in his struggle to keep the audience’s attention. The film should be seen for what it truly is: an immature comedy aimed at adolescents that stumbles in just about every way.

By Kyle Doty (UNC-CH)