Pinning our hopes on the movies
I saw "Murderball" -- several times. I haven't seen either "The Ringer" or "39 Pounds of Love," though. Both of those films have just opened in time for the holidays.
If you don't know what the films are about, or what kind of reviews they're getting, go to google news and type in the name of the movie.
"Murderball," loved by the critics, did abysmally at the box office (although producers have hopes it will do better in its DVD version, which was released Nov. 29).
"The Ringer" will definitely do better, but not, I think, for disability reasons. Made by the Farrelly Brothers of non-p.c. "There's Something About Mary" fame, it stars "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville, which alone will endear it to a certain large moviegoing public.
Producers of disability flicks seem to find themselves on the horns of a dilemma: talk a new game ("Murderball") and achieve little box-office success, or play directly to stereotypes in the hopes of garnering a large audience. That's the route the Special Olympics took when it signed on to be part of "The Ringer."
Read the rest of my thoughts about Special O and "The Ringer" in my Edge-Centric blog entry.