The New "bad taste" film proves to be a surprise hit.

When Edward was growing up in Florida, he didn't have a quick retort for the kids who would bully him.Mr. Barbanell, who has Down syndrome, said he learned to walk away from it.I am not a 'tard', but they can call me that.

He would tell the kids to see his performance in "The Ringer," a comedy directed by Barry Blaustein and produced by the Farrelly brothers' Conundrum Entertainment with the active endorsement of Special Olympics.He said that the movie will touch people's hearts and give them a sense of hope about what people with intellectual disabilities can do.

The opening of "The Ringer" seems to represent an important moment in movie history.This is the first major Hollywood film with a large number of actors who have intellectual disabilities.They are portraying competent, genuine characters, not the stereotypical victims, villains, and heroes who have defined the disability experience in studio movies.The actors with disabilities are playing comedy and inviting the audience to laugh with them, not at them.

Some in the disability world are afraid that the filmmakers may have something else in mind.They worry that the Farrellys' bawdy humor in "Dumb and Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary" could hurt people who are already stigmatized.

"They're sensitive, but they want to have it both ways, and that's what frustrates me about them," said Kathleen LeBesco, chairwoman of the department of communication arts at Marymount Manhattan College.She wrote a paper about the Farrellys' "contradictions of freakery" in Disability Studies Quarterly.

Peter Farrelly believes that America needs to understand the inherent humanity of people with intellectual disabilities, and that includes seeing them make jokes, engage in hijinks and dance close to "Full Monty"-style in the shower."My whole point in making this movie is to make people with mental disabilities accessible, make them know who they are and feel comfortable with them," he said during a recent interview in the brothers' office.

He said that if you don't know someone who's mentally challenged, you're afraid of them.It's not bad.It's normal.You're very comfortable if you know them.

This is not something that has been done before.Nobody really knows how audiences will react to seeing people with intellectual disabilities in a big-screen comedy, or whether they will show up in the first place.

Americans have learned that it's not appropriate to stare at people with intellectual disabilities.Is it possible that a movie goes over adults' heads and appeals to teenagers?

Is it possible for these actors to get open doors in the entertainment world so that others in their cohort will follow?

Peter Farrelly and his brother, Bobby, received a pitch from Ricky Blitt, a writer from television's iconoclastic "Family Guy."The premise of his script idea was that a guy fakes a mental disability in order to rig the Special Olympics.

20th Century Fox agreed to bankroll the project, but only if the brothers were endorsed by Special Olympics.It wasn't an easy process.After an initial positive response from the Special Olympics president, Timothy P. Shriver, the Farrellys spent a couple of years in negotiation.Some situations and language can't be printed here.Dialogue was scrubbed.Mentally challenged and intellectual disabilities were included."Mentally retarded" was out, except in special circumstances.There were arguments.A Special Olympics representative stayed on the set to make sure nothing happened.

The film stars Johnny Knoxville, best known as the star of MTV's gross and dangerous stunt series, "Jackass."He befriends disabled athletes whom he comes to admire, and he sternly admonishes another character who labels his new friends " 'tards', a variant on the widely used playground insult "retard."

The hope is that Mr. Knoxville's high-octane persona will draw in the adolescent boys who are susceptible to an attitude transformation.The executive producer of "The Ringer" said that they were taking a risk with humor and language that might be offensive.I think it's time to zap it and make it go away.

Five actors with intellectual disabilities are supporting Mr. Knoxville, including his wisecracking roommate and Special Olympics athlete Leonard Flowers.The film includes scenes in which an out-of-shape Mr. Knoxville struggles to keep pace with the Special Olympics athletes.

The Kids of Widney High, a band composed of students from a special education school in Los Angeles, are on the soundtrack.Their big number?"Respect."

According to research conducted by the Center for Social Development and Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the band members could definitely use a little respect.Young people underestimate the abilities of peers with intellectual disabilities, according to a survey of 6,000 middle school students.The survey found that 67 percent of young people wouldn't spend time with a student with an intellectual disability if given a choice, and almost 50 percent would not sit next to one on a school bus.

30 years ago, landmark federal legislation gave students with disabilities the right to a public education.Although these students have been educated in public schools for more than a generation, are performing at higher levels than ever before, and are increasingly graduating from high school, they still face substantial stigmas.

Negative stereotypes in movies, television and newspapers are a big part of the problem according to research funded by Special Olympics.A recent study funded by the Screen Actors Guild and performed at the University of California, Los Angeles found that people with disabilities are invisible in American film and television.

The world of the Farrellys' comedies uses disability as a paradigm to explore life's quirkiness.It is difficult to tell who is disabled and who isn't in most films with actors with real-life disabilities.

Peter Farrelly said that they have used a lot of disabled people in their movies.One reason is that I know a lot of disabled people.More people don't.

Danny Murphy is one of the people he knows best.Mr. Farrelly was going to dive into the water on the summer day in 1974 when the two young men sailed with friends to a familiar spot in Oak Bluffs Harbor on Martha's Vineyard.Mr. Murphy took his place and dove into himself.He broke his neck when he hit a hidden silt mound.He was left a paraplegic by the injury.

The first Farrelly film did not include anyone in a wheelchair.Mr. Murphy said he would never forget Pete's face.I told him that his parents had died.

Mr Murphy was invited to appear by Mr. Farrelly when the next movie came around.He has appeared in almost every Farrelly film since he played the bad guy in "Kingpin."

Rene Kirby, who has spina bifida, is an actor with a self-deprecating and humorous performance."When I meet a guy like that, I feel so blessed to come across such a spirit," said Mr. Farrelly, who grew up in a Roman Catholic household.It makes you feel small.It makes me want to cast him in the movie.It's not just exploitative.This will be normal.I want to put that spirit on-screen because I'm impressed with a guy like that.

In "Stuck on You," the intellectually disabled waiter who works in the twins' hamburger joint is a comic foil for the film's stars.Scores of other people with disabilities turn up in Farrelly films where you don't expect them, or may not even know they are there -- an amputee and a woman with a mobility impairment who play casting agents in "Stuck on You."

Farrelly films have won many laughs at the expense of high-priced actors in disability drag.In addition to "Dumb and Dumber," think of Woody Harrelson as "Kingpin's" handles bowler, and Jim Carrey as a man with a split personality in a film that the National Alliance on Mental Illness accused of stigmatizing schizophrenia.

The Farrellys received a California Media Access award for their lifetime commitment to the advancement and inclusion of people with disabilities in the media industry.There are two life-size sculptures of the human buttocks and vestigial tail in the office, which is wheelchair accessible.