Ricky Stanicky
A comedy that’s never really that funny, Ricky Stanicky is a one-concept movie that struggles to make its main characters likeable, although John Cena singlehandedly keeps things watchable.
Premise: Three school friends invent a fictious fourth friend – “Ricky Stanicky” – who takes the blame for all their mistakes. Now grown up, the friends (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino and Jermaine Fowler) have continued to use “Ricky Stanicky” as an excuse for all their misdeeds – but when their families come close to discovering the friends’ secret, they hire an alcoholic Atlantic City entertainer, Rock-Hard Rod (John Cena), to bring “Ricky Stanicky” to life.
Review:
I love a dumb, stupid comedy as much as the next person (after all, no one can claim that Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is “highbrow” entertainment), but Ricky Stanicky doesn’t even manage to be that funny. It starts off promisingly, with a flashback to how a childish prank gone wrong led to schoolkids Dean, JT and Wes inventing an out-of-town kid named “Ricky Stanicky” to take the blame for them, but as soon as events move to the present day, one of the main flaws with this movie is that the grown-up Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino) and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) are neither funny nor likeable. Generally in comedies, you can get away with your main character(s) being funny or likeable (some of the greatest comedy characters are not funny and likeable), but when your lead characters in a comedy are neither, you’re in trouble.
The problem is that whereas the childhood versions of the three friends invented “Ricky Stanicky” to cover up an honest (if stupid) mistake, the adult versions have been using the fictious friend as a premeditated device for selfishly lying to their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and other family members for the last couple of decades. The film comes close to acknowledging the level of deception and dishonesty that the friends have shown their loved ones (at one point one of them says “But we’ve only told one lie!”, and the other replies “Yes, but repeatedly for the last twenty years...”), but it never truly faces up to the level of betrayal that the friends are guilty of. Even at the end (and trying to avoid major “spoilers”), director Peter Farrelly cops out (a) by making a half-hearted attempt to put forward a psychological justification for Dean’s willingness to lie to everyone around him, and (b) by wrapping things up with a conclusion that effectively absolves the friends of any real consequences to their deception.
“…what few laughs are to be had are all thanks to John Cena’s no-holds-barred performance…”
I appreciate that I may be overthinking what is meant to just be a light-hearted bit of fun, but given that the entire premise of the film is that the friends have been lying to their loved ones for twenty years, and then by the end of the film you could argue that they’ve not really shown any remorse for their actions (at least not all of them have) and then they also all get let off scot-free ... it all leaves a somewhat unpleasant taste in the mouth.
Truthfully, all of this would no doubt be entirely forgivable if the film was actually funny – but the three friends are mean, cruel and selfish rather than being funny. Zac Efron can be hilarious, and he can be extremely funny even when playing a selfish and superficially unlikeable character (I’m one of the few people who loved the 2017 Baywatch reboot), but here he elicits next to no laughs.
“…John Cena’s comedic performance keeps things entertaining whenever he’s on screen…”
The saving grace of Ricky Stanicky is, perhaps appropriately, “Ricky Stanicky” himself. John Cena is at his best when he’s playing comedically tragic characters that undercut his stereotypical square-jawed appearance (he’s excellent as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad and its spin-off series), and here he fully commits to his role as Rock-Hard Rod, a down-on-his-luck self-professed actor reduced to performing sex-themed parodies of famous songs in a seedy Atlantic City bar. What few laughs are to be had in Ricky Stanicky are all thanks to John Cena’s no-holds-barred performance.
Ultimately, given the people involved, this film is an disappointment, and certainly not one I would recommend. On the other hand, if you wanted to watch it purely for John Cena’s comedic performance, he keeps things entertaining whenever he’s on screen (just be prepared for a lack of laughs whenever he’s not on screen).
