Isobel Grieve
As a rule, I usually take it as a sign that a story is not exactly perfect when the screenplay has passed between more than three hands. Ricky Stanicky made it to six writers before eventually being directed by Peter Farrelly – who also contributed to the script. Maybe six writers wasn’t enough.
Rated-R and starring Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler and John Cena, Ricky Stanicky is about three childhood best friends who continue to use their fictitious friend Ricky Stanicky as an alibi for whenever they want a boy’s weekend or get out of trouble. That is until their significant others ask too many questions, and the BFFs need Ricky Stanicky to appear to answer for his many crimes and humiliating backstories.
Watching the trailer reminded me how much I like Zac Efron in a raunchy comedy or rom-com. I loved That Awkward Moment, and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. I’m even partial to Dirty Grandpa. However, I don’t think I was fully prepared for the mess that is Ricky Stanicky.
Not so long ago, Zac Efron received incredible praise and Oscar buzz for his role in The Iron Claw as infamous wrestler Kevin Von Erich. Efron’s performance as Dean takes time to develop, and his comedic timing is impeccable. It’s a slow build, but it’s worth it. Zac Efron is a great and multi-talented performer. Even with a script that’s passed six people’s desks, he’s funny, but he’s also still Zac Efron. He rings pretty similar to his previous raunchy comedy characters. Adding the element of domestic abuse to his backstory was a bit much and a little too heavy for the context of the rest of the film – like I said, this film is a mess, filled with contradictions and off-putting tone shifts.
JT (Andrew Santino of Beef) was an interesting character, a cross between an anxious husband and a reckless boy’s boy. Out of the three friends, he was the most dynamically invested in his character, with realistic whims. As the Ricky Stanicky continues, his character becomes less compelling behind the development of Dean (Efron), who takes centre stage next to longtime WWE superstar John Cena (recently seen in Argylle). Wes (Jermaine Fowler of The Blackening) was a bit of a throw-all for diversity. Here, they had two typical cis-hetero white men, JT and Dean, and then Wes, the Black, gay, unemployed stoner. Sure, he’s given an arc and a passion for writing, but I’m not sure it makes up for the lacklustre origin and the incomplete conclusion to his storyline.
If this film had been made in the early 2000s, it might have worked much better and become a cult classic. The physical bits are dramatic and over-the-top, and in our age of comedy styling today, it lacks a retrospective realism and dryness. There’s a 50/50 chance any joke will land or fall off. Sometimes, the banter is spot on; other times, it’s tired or played out. There’s certainly an amount of cringe comedy that picks up when John Cena interacts with the other characters as Ricky Stanicky. Still, when he’s his regular character, Rod Rimestead, his humour is flat, stilted and a little sad.
Jeff Ross, playing a Rabbi, is put into a K-hole; Johh Cena tells William H. Macy he’s an “air-dicker”: these are the kind of outlandish bits that suck you in, but the lulls when darker circumstances seep in rock you a little. The sweeping hero ending is a bit too good to be true, but that’s precisely what you’d expect from a middle-of-the-road late-night comedy.
Don’t get me wrong, I still had fun. Ricky Stanicky is one of those films you put on when you’re zonked from a long day at work and don’t want to think. There certainly are moments that compel you to pay attention, but there are also lulls that leave you room to scroll your phone. It’s a perfect middle-of-the-road late-night comedy that builds into a fun ride.
