The Farrelly brothers as producers have made into a celebratory comedy what might once have been an occasion for a display of characteristic bad taste. Johnny Knoxville plays a kind-hearted nerd who has promised to find $28,000 to pay for an immigrant widower's operation. His unscrupulous uncle (Brian Cox), in hock to a bookie, encourages him to pretend to be mentally handicapped, enter the Special Olympics and put money on himself to win. In the event he becomes chums with a group of his fellow competitors, learns how smart, likeable, resourceful and underappreciated they are and undergoes a change of heart.

The cast includes 150 learning disabled people, a number of them with major credits as professional actors, and the picture is made with the active collaboration of the Special Olympics organisers, whose chairman acted as an executive producer. As usual with Knoxville, the humour is pretty broad, but the picture is funny and touching and quite rapidly sets aside any feeling that its characters are being mocked or patronised. There is a marvellous moment when Knoxville confesses his sins and an outraged priest punches him in the face through the lattice window of the confessional.