THE RINGER * (one star)

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.

Instead of sending Johnny Knoxville gleefully “Jackass”-ing his way through the events, the film mainly has him standing around reacting as the actors playing the other athletes talk funny.

There are a handful of amusing moments but most of the jokes are aimless (again and again, we’re told that Knoxville’s undercover name is Jeffy Dahmor) and the story is, um, developmentally challenged: The third act, for instance, takes about five minutes. Not that I’m complaining.

Running time: 100 minutes. PG-13 (crude and sexual humor, drug references). At the Empire, the Magic Johnson, the 34th Street, others.