Ricky Stanicky
review by Bobby Blakey
Peter Farrelly was one half of the Farrelly Brothers comedy powerhouses bringing fans some classics as Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene and Shallow Hal. Over the last few years, he has been venturing in some different directions with critical success, but now he is back into the comedy genre with his latest film Ricky Stanicky starring Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, Lex Scott Davis, Anja Savcic, Jeff Ross with William H. Macy, and John Cena. Could this be a return to comedic form for the Farrelly or will it fail to bring the laughs?
Ricky Stanicky follows three childhood best friends who pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator "Rock Hard" Rod (John Cena) to bring him to life. But when Rod takes his role of a lifetime too far, they begin to wish they’d never invented Ricky in the first place.
I thought the trailers for this film looked pretty funny so was looking forward to getting into it and while it is pretty funny it is hit and miss at times. The story is simple and while ridiculous on some levels works well enough to build on. Efron, Fowler, and Santino are great together really giving off friend vibes. They all have unique personalities and completely different lifestyles which leads to some great bonding. At the same time, they are all characters we have seen dozens of times so not bringing anything all that new to the table.
The film isn’t as over the top as I expected, which is fine, but it needed that extra something to really bring the heavy laughs, especially from what fans are used
to with the Farrelly name. Where it struggles at times with that, it’s John Cena who stills the show and brings all the laughs as it is intended. He is so great here not only playing it straight but completely over the top as well. His loser persona matched with his action star build and desperate, but deliberate actor is such fun to watch. He brings his A game here once again showcasing his comedic timing and willingness to go all in every time.
The script for this film has apparently been floating around for years with people like Jim Carrey attached which I could completely see, but Cena makes it his own and even funnier in his own way given his unique style. When Cena is not on screen it is average and limps along, but thankfully that isn’t often and ended up being a funny flick with some heart.
Decide for yourself and check out Ricky Stanicky streaming exclusively March 7th on Prime Video.