It was bound to happen sooner or later. Neil Abramson's Ringmaster marks the feature-film debut of trashy talk-show host Jerry Springer, here playing a trashy talk-show host named Jerry. This fictionalized account of The Jerry Springer Show asks the question millions ask every day: Where do these guests come from, and why would they choose to humiliate themselves on national television? Tracking two sets of candidates for two segments from their inner-city/trailer-park beginnings to their intersection on the set of the show itself, Ringmaster's flimsy plot is like a porn movie without the hardcore action. The movie exists just to get these nymphomaniacs in one place, at which point they can pair up and/or fawn over Springer. It's hard to tell whether Ringmaster was envisioned as a cynical mea culpa for Springer's tasteless exploitative tendencies, an earnest defense of the show, or simply a full-length version of Too Hot For TV! The sex, language, nudity, and frequent throwdowns indicate answer #3. That's too bad, because a few scenes show the direction the movie could have headed. One has Springer ruminating aloud that his reputation has gone to hell, and that people now equate him with filth. Another features a lengthy Springer monologue that claims the show gives poor people an opportunity to air their dirty laundry in public, just like movie stars and other celebrities do, and that the show's critics are elitists who don't want to see what the real world is like. Of course, the film glosses over the possibility that maybe Springer's show actively encourages such behavior, and that maybe, just maybe, he exploits the very sleaze he encourages. But whether Springer is playing devil's advocate or doing the devil's work is never made clear, as Ringmaster is clearly aimed at the people who watch the show rather than those who criticize, analyze, and demonize it. Still, there's something pernicious about a fictionalized version of a show that borders on fiction to begin with; it could be that this quickie piece of crap cash-in is just another way for Springer to laugh at the people who pay his salary.