Director Peter Farrelly (he and brother Bobby created Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, and Kingpin, among others) returns to comedy after leaving the partnership and devoting his time to more serious fare, such as the Oscar-winning Green Book and The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Ricky Stanicky is the very silly story about three lifelong best friends who invent an imaginary fourth friend, Ricky, to get them out of trouble for every bad thing they ever did, finding ways for him to be useful in adulthood as well. The film opens with three kids accidentally setting a couple on fire when a Halloween prank goes wrong, and they manage to create another kid, Ricky, to blame for the crime. From that point forward, the friends blame Ricky for every misdeed they are involved in.
When these friends become adults, Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler, respectively) use Ricky as an excuse and alibi for immature behavior or just wanting to get away from adult responsibilities. Ricky has all the adventures and drags his friends along for the ride, but when spouses and partners begin to doubt Ricky’s existence, they demand to meet him at the bris of JT’s recently born child; Anja Savcic plays JT’s wife, Susan. Since childhood, the friends have kept a “bible” of Ricky’s exploits, which they add to with each new adventure. Now they have to come up with an actual Ricky somehow, or a good excuse why he can’t make the bris. While on one of their secret trips to Atlantic City, they meet parody-song performer and would-be actor “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena), whom they eventually realize they could hire to play Ricky, after he studies their bible. Being the consummate professional (and a raging alcoholic), Ricky truly commits to the bit, goes cold turkey (which leads to terrible withdrawal), and even does independent research on many of the people he’s expected to meet and impress.
Rod does his job almost too well, even impressing Dean and JT’s boss (William H. Macy), who eventually hires “Ricky” to work in their investment firm, which Rod has no experience in or knowledge of whatsoever. Rod so embodies the Ricky character that he even manages to help his three friends with their individual relationships. Dean has communications issues with his reporter girlfriend Erin (Lex Scott Davis), while Wes is having trouble finishing a children’s book he’s working on, until Ricky comes up with a few new ideas for its themes; Wes is also having relationship issues with his partner.
Ricky Stanicky isn’t especially special or clever, but it does have its moments, most of which revolve around Cena committing to the bit so completely that he wins everyone over, including the audience (the parody songs he performs—in costume—are all very X-rated and, weirdly, all about masturbation). The bottom line with Cena has always been that he will do anything for a laugh, even if the joke is on him, which it usually is in this movie. It only takes a couple of days with Ricky in their lives for the friends to wish they’d never brought him to life, and when Erin decides to do a new story on him to further her career, it becomes clear that bringing Rod into the picture could ruin a lot of lives. In the back third of the film, as Ricky attempts to work at the firm with Dean and JT, not a whole lot works, and everything becomes a countdown clock to finding out that Ricky is a fake but still finding a way for everyone to forgive everyone else, despite 20 years of lying.
Ricky Stanicky is by no means a return to form for Farrelly, but there are fleeting moments where we see some signs of the filmmaker who is known for going for absolute broke and isn't afraid to get weird for a laugh. Maybe the difference is that, 25 years ago, the Farrelly brothers weren’t trying to be bizarre; they just were, and what resulted felt like a natural extension of their sense of humor. This film feels more forced and calculated, even though weirdness does slip through, and I did laugh a handful of times, which has to count for something. I’m not sure I’d pay money for this movie in a theater, but since this is a streaming property, you don’t have to. Not exactly a rousing recommendation, but some of you out there are undoubtedly curious, and you could do worse this weekend.
The film begins streaming today on Prime Video.
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