Ricky Stanicky Review: John Cena Is Hilarious, But The Movie Doesn't Quite Stick The Landing
It's no secret that studios aren't taking chances on comedies at the box office very often anymore. While "No Hard Feelings" succeeded decently enough last year, the biggest laughs came from the indie and arthouse scene in 2023, and streamers are still the primary place to find new comedies. That's exactly the case with Amazon Prime Video's release of "Ricky Stanicky" (watch the trailer here), the return to comedy from "Green Book" director Peter Farrelly, perhaps better known as one half of the Farrelly Brothers directing duo who brought us big laughs in movies like "Dumb & Dumber," "Kingpin," and "There's Something About Mary."
"Ricky Stanicky" follows Zac Efron (who deserved an Oscar nomination for his all-consuming role in "The Iron Claw"), Andrew Santino (FX's "Dave"), and Jermaine Fowler ("The Blackening") as Dean, JT, and Wes, a trio of longtime best buddies who have been using a fictional friend as a scapegoat since they were kids. After accidentally setting a house ablaze while trick or treating, the fake Ricky Stanicky was born, and the three friends have continued to use him to both get out of trouble and go on a variety of secret dude trips to casinos, concerts, sporting events, and much more, all without upsetting their significant others. But unfortunately, their ruse is on the verge of being ruined.
When the guys make up a story about Ricky Stanicky having a recurrence of cancer, allowing them to suddenly sneak away from a fancy baby shower for JT and his wife, they're ready to enjoy a carefree getaway in Atlantic City for a few days. But their trip is cut short when JT's wife goes into labor early. After everyone has trouble tracking down the guys at any of the potential hospitals that Ricky Stanicky might be in, suspicions are high. Coincidentally enough, thanks to a hastily executed extraneous lie from Wes, the fictional Ricky Stanicky is going to be in town for a short period, and now everyone wants to meet their infamous friend. Enter John Cena in one of the funniest performances of his career.
Meet Rock Hard Rod
While the boys were hanging out at a casino bar in Atlantic City, they had a strange encounter with Rod Rimestead, a nice enough guy who seems to be barely getting by, as he not so stealthily tries to score a free beer and calamari from the guys. During their meeting, which certainly overstays its welcome, Rod reveals that he's an aspiring actor starring in a raunchy rock and roll tribute show where his on-stage persona, "Rock Hard Rod," sings famous songs where the lyrics have been changed to make them about masturbation. We even get to see a handful of renditions of what he calls "jizz jams," with Cena delivering some fairly impressive and very funny musical impersonations. They're immature and stupid, and John Cena makes them downright hilarious.
As painful as this introduction was, meeting Rod actually provides the guys with the solution they need to avoid admitting that they've been lying to everyone about Ricky Stanicky this whole time. Dean, JT, and Wes hire Rod to portray Ricky Stanicky, and the struggling beefcake can't help but take the opportunity for a paycheck and a free flight out of town when he learns that some shady dudes are trying to track him down. Even though Rod shows up looking like hell, sweating profusely and pissing his pants upon landing at the airport, it's because he's going all in and making sure he's clean and sober, just like the "real Ricky Stanicky," as indicated in the ongoing bible that has chronicled all of their lies over the years.
From here, the film plays out with the kind of situational comedy you'd expect, where there's tension about whether or not Rod is actually going to be able to land this performance in order to get the guys off the hook. But in one of the movie's twists (not entirely unexpected, as it's in the trailer) where things become a little more interesting, Rod decides that he's better off settling into the shoes of Ricky Stanicky rather than going back to his crappy life as Rod. From there, we're treated to a few more amusing twists and turns, including a hilarious bit involving Dean and JT's boss, played by William H. Macy, who has a horrible realization about an inadvertently embarrassing habit while speaking in public.
A slight lack of chemistry and a weak heart
"Ricky Stanicky" mostly succeeds as a comedy, but where the movie stumbles is in trying to inject a little too much drama into the proceedings. While some of the best comedies benefit from having an emotional core, this addition in "Ricky Stanicky" doesn't feel authentic enough to carry the appropriate amount of weight, and it's a little too difficult to connect to that side of the characters. While there are asides where the script references potentially troubling details in the lives of Dean, JT, and Wes that eventually come to a head, when the third act attempts to resolve them with genuine care, it feels like a sharp turn into drama rather than a gradual, meaningful realization.
Perhaps the chief problem with this is that the camaraderie between Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler never quite reaches a satisfying level of chemistry. Though they bounce off each other in an enjoyable way, their interactions are missing that extra spark of magic that makes them feel like real friends. For example, in the comedies of Adam McKay and Judd Apatow (that they directed and/or produced) that dominated the 2000s and 2010s, you never doubted the dynamic of the friends in those movies, whether it's the amazing duo of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in "Talladega Nights," the news team from "Anchorman," all the guys from "Knocked Up," or the best friends (and McLovin) of "Superbad," you could just feel their friendship in every frame.
Efron, Santino, and Fowler don't have that same level of comfort, which both hinders the comedy (at least somewhat) and makes any emotional resonance fall a little more flat than you'd like. It doesn't help that Efron is funniest when he has a fully comedic lead co-star like Seth Rogen (or even Adam DeVine) in his corner. Unfortunately, Santino and Fowler, despite being solid stand-up comedians themselves, just aren't at the same level to help elevate the laughs.
Thankfully, John Cena is there to save the day. While audiences might not come to truly be invested in what's happening with Dean, JT, and Wes, it's hard not to root for "Rock Hard Rod" to climb out of the gutter and get his life together. Even as he threatens to unravel the main trio's lives, Cena is so likable and naively friendly that you just want the best for him. It helps that Cena also gets his own moments to be sweet and caring, and those actually shine through infinitely better than anything involving the other main characters. On top of all that, he's gross-out hilarious and inappropriate but with just the right amount of charm. It's a delicate high-wire act that Cena is pulling off here, and the fact that he's this massive muscle factory only makes it that much more mystifying and funny.
Comedy from another time
"Ricky Stanicky" is a project that's been percolating in Hollywood since around 2010, when the script ended up on the Black List of the industry's hottest unproduced screenplays. Because it's taken a while for the project to get in front of a camera, it feels like a comedy that should have been made over a decade ago, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It has nostalgic hallmarks without being intentionally retro. In fact, the movie may have actually been hurt somewhat by the contemporary tendencies to update the script for today's comedic environment. While it's nice to have comedies where you actually care about the characters, that can occasionally do a disservice to the kind of comedy being executed, and that seems to be the biggest problem with "Ricky Stanicky."
Furthermore, the third act resolution is almost a little too clean and happy, as if it was touched by a magic wand that is permanently set to, "Oh, isn't that nice?" I couldn't help but wish there was some kind of revelation at the end of the movie where Dean, JT, and Wes' significant others all have their own fake friends that they've manufactured, introducing a new wrinkle to the comedy. Sure, it would be an absurd coincidence, and the roles played by Lex Scott Davis ("The First Purge"), Anja Savcic ("Big Sky"), and Daniel Monks would need to be beefed up significantly and likely played by more prominent names. But the comedic tone without that forced dramatic center would have gracefully allowed for that. But of course, with studios so reluctant to make comedies, there's no way this ever going to set up a sequel.
For the most part, "Ricky Stanicky" is an entertaining comedy with enough laughs to keep your attention. However, it tries too hard to pull at your heartstrings without enough authenticity to back it up. But for those who came to see John Cena be a little bit filthy and have a good time, this one should still get the job done.
/Film Rating: 6 out of 10