Simple Jacks (and Janes): 17 mostly awful portrayals of people with intellectual disabilities

1. Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder (2008)
There’s a lot of biting satire of Hollywood in 2008’s Tropic Thunder, including some real teeth in the running joke about Ben Stiller’s character, who’s known for playing Simple Jack, a character with intellectual disabilities. It’s clearly a dig at both Forrest Gump and I Am Sam, which is called out specifically in a conversation between Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. “Never go full retard,” says Downey. “You don’t buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, I Am Sam. Remember? Went full retard? Went home empty-handed.” He was mostly right, despite the insensitive language: When movies and TV shows attempt to portray people with disabilities, the results are almost always tone-deaf, awkward, and borderline offensive. The characters are presented as cute, or magical, or beloved objects of pity and scorn, even as they’re supposed to be inspiring. It’s not that portraying intellectually disabled characters shouldn’t be done, just that it’s almost never been done well, with most characters drawn so broadly (They talk loud! They have very specific obsessions!) that they become caricatures. And they rarely win acting awards.
2. Rosie O’Donnell, Riding The Bus With My Sister (2005)
It’d be hard to imagine an actor less up to the task of playing a person with intellectual disabilities than Rosie O’Donnell, but at least she has gusto. Scratch that—her gusto is what makes Riding The Bus With My Sister, based on a memoir of the same name, so repulsively ridiculous. O’Donnell shouts, twists up her face, wears mismatched socks, and ignores social cues with such over-the-top glee, it almost feels like she’s making fun of herself. The movie has become the stuff of legend at this point, because it’s just so far beyond the pale. Its message, ultimately, seems to be that this woman’s sister should love her in spite of the fact that she’s incredibly annoying.
3. Ricky Gervais, Derek (2012)
Ricky Gervais’ best-known characters are designed to be laughed at, to be mercilessly mocked by those around them and by viewers at home. David Brent, while he had some redeeming characteristics, was a buffoon, while Andy Millman was so self-important it was easy to watch him fail, even when he was winning. Even when Gervais is playing himself it’s as a hateable asshole, whether in Life’s Too Short or those fucking Audi commercials. All of which makes Derek so confusing. The mental state of its title character, played by Gervais, is ambiguous, but clearly something isn’t quite right—he’s hunched over, frequently grinning crazily, and all too willing to enthusiastically spout his own philosophy about the world. (It comes down to this: Be nice. Which seems an odd thought for Gervais.) But when the character vacillates so quickly between platitudes and “ain’t he a cute dummy?” remarks, there’s no sense of where the joke is, or even if there is a joke, or if this is a comedy at all. Whatever the case, it would’ve been wise to find somebody without Gervais’ baggage to play the role, but since he’s also the writer-director, he probably couldn’t have imagined anyone more perfect for the job.
4. Tom Hulce, Dominick And Eugene (1988)
Tom Hulce—known best from his almost-star-making turn as Mozart in Amadeus—is introduced in Dominick And Eugene when a dog licks his face until he wakes up. He’s a little grossed out, but then exclaims, “Sometimes I wonder who’s stupider, you or me!” Thus we learn that the half-titular Eugene isn’t quite right in the head. Hulce at least has the chops to almost pull this off—he has a sense of innocent glee in most of his roles—but the material doesn’t help him out. It’s of the “aren’t people with disabilities cute?” school, though at least there’s a solid scene in which Hulce questions his own existence and shows some emotional growth. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance, though it should be noted that his disability was the result of an accident, and not something genetic.
5. Sean Penn, I Am Sam (2001)
There’s no question that Sean Penn is one of his generation’s most talented actors: Just look at the diverse work he’s done in Milk, Mystic River, The Game, Dead Man Walking, even Fast Times At Ridgemont High. But in his mad dash for the “full retard” Oscar, he must’ve forgotten to read this particular script before signing on. In the midst of an insanely implausible story—Penn raises daughter Dakota Fanning until she’s 7, with few problems (even though he apparently doesn’t understand how money works)—at which point the state decides to take her away from him… because she’s reached the age where she’s smarter than he is. Of course Fanning is precocious and wonderful in every way, and Penn—all goofy smiles and tantrums, but no depth—is so lovable that hardened lawyer Michelle Pfeiffer wants to take his case. Penn was nominated for that Oscar, but he didn’t win. Maybe because he was surrounded by sentiments like, “One’s intellectual capacity has no bearing on their ability to love!”
6. Cuba Gooding Jr., Radio (2003)
Most movies about people with intellectual disabilities feature at least one scene in which the main character acts goofy and lifts everyone else’s spirits, with the implication being, “If he can be happy, surely we all can, since there’s nothing wrong with us!” That certainly happens in the brutishly heartwarming Radio, starring Oscar winner (not for this!) Cuba Gooding Jr. as a man who finds himself a de facto cheerleader for high school sports. He has huge, messed-up Hollywood teeth and he’s excited by the choo-choo train. He does baby voices. At some point, a voice of reason wonders, “I’m not sure if we’re trying to help somebody here, or if he’s being used as some kind of glorified mascot!” But at the end of this very silly (based on a true story) scenario, something very typical happens: learning. “We’re not the ones been teachin’ Radio… Radio’s the one been teachin’ us.” Gooding did win an award for his portrayal of Radio, but it was a Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor.
7-8. Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi, The Other Sister (1999)
Garry Marshall’s treacle-powered The Other Sister may be the most insidiously, unintentionally offensive movie ever made. Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi play developmentally challenged lovers whose every foible is played for laughs, including a particularly egregious scene in which they discuss The New Joy Of Sex, deliberating which positions they’d like to try out as part of their maiden voyage into coitus. It’s intended as a tender, real-life moment, but it comes across as just mocking—as does a part when Lewis’ character gets lost in her own house, which occurs in the background of a scene.