A group of young men (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler) who have been friends since childhood have been getting away with mischief for years by blaming the trouble they cause/responsibilities they shirk on a fictional best friend they invented named Ricky Stanicky. When their loved ones eventually insist on meeting the mysterious friend behind all the years of wild stories, the group of men is forced to hire a down-on-his-luck actor (John Cena) to fill the role at a gathering. Hijinks, almost needless to say, most definitely ensue.
Ricky Stanicky is a charmingly feel-good, highly amusing, moderately edgy, and harmlessly filthy comedy that recalls the earlier films of its director and co-writer, Peter Farrelly. Though it’s not as outstanding as his Oscar-winning Green Book or as hilarious as the best works he co-directed and co-wrote with his brother, Bobby (Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, There’s Something About Mary), it still has an overall uniquely humorous and warmly affable quality that only a Farrelly Brother could create. For a few reasons, it’s not a great movie, but, for a few others, it’s one that doesn’t take much effort to enjoy.
Ricky Stanicky’s primary fault is its pacing. It takes too long to get going in its first act, then takes too long to wrap up in its last. During the first twenty minutes or so, I was worried the film was going to be as unengrossing and painfully unfunny as some of The Farrelly Brothers’ latter films (Stuck on You, The Heartbreak Kid, Dumb and Dumber To). During the last twenty minutes or so, the film runs the risk of overstaying its welcome and harming the eventual good quality that preceded it. Miraculously, however, the film always manages to (eventually) recover from its sometimes-haphazard pacing and get on track to tell what is primarily a delightful story.
While the individual actors all display dedication and talent, Efron, Santino, and Fowler fail to achieve a particularly vivacious or effortless chemistry with one another. Their interactions don’t suggest long-lasting familiarity or affection, but rather strangers who have just met at a bar and moderately hit it off. While the bond between the friends is clear because it is dictated from the get-go, it never manages to be entirely believable or felt on an emotional level.
The average chemistry between the actors portraying the trio of friends doesn’t help the fact their characters’ ongoing deception makes them somewhat unlikable for a large portion of the film. This is eventually somewhat rectified when Efron’s character’s damaged past is explored along with the much-needed questioning of his morality. However, it simply takes too long to get there before damage to the character’s relatability is already done. From a writing standpoint, the three friends are eventually well-defined, but if their characters had been shaded in a little more towards the beginning, it probably would have been a bit easier to sympathize with, enjoy, and appreciate them.
Ricky Stanicky’s true standout and highlight, and the reason for its overall success is John Cena. The film’s biggest laughs (of which there are several) all come from him and his portrayal of a struggling actor filling in the role of a fictional legend. His comic timing is impeccable, his personality is lovable, his delivery has a hilariously self-important intensity, and his reactions to even the wildest of scenarios are endlessly and impressively straight-faced. Cena brings out the best in everyone—his fellow actors, the filmmakers– in every scene in which he appears. He is a rare performer who fascinatingly exudes uniquely conflicting qualities such as masculinity, fragility, world-weariness, innocence, silliness, seriousness, approachability, rage, extreme ego, and charming self-effacement. He is a true and natural movie star in every sense of the term.
Ricky Stanicky has its flaws, but it manages to rise above them for the most part. If it had been a bit shorter and tighter, a tad more developed, and a little better structured, it might have been another Peter Farrelly classic. As it stands, however, it will just have to settle on being a pretty solid movie with a number of memorably hilarious and heartfelt moments.
GRADE: B-
