Let me set the tone for you. You’ve been lying to everyone in your life for years to get out of problems or maybe you just needed a weekend away from the family to go see a gig. What do you do when you get caught out? That’s right, double down on the lie, hire an unstable exotic actor to portray a made-up friend and introduce him to your family as the famed Ricky Stanicky.
A Halloween prank that goes awry sets in motion events that will begin a journey for three friends and their made up fourth Ricky Stanicky. Life long friends Dean, JT and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino and Jermain Fowler) for the last twenty years have been using their “imaginary” friend Ricky as a cover for all kinds of moments in their life where they needed an out. Ricky is a missionary traveling the world helping those less fortunate, that is until he is called upon again as the cancer has inevitably returned. Of course, that is a lie just so the friends can get out of JT’s baby shower and head to Atlantic City for a gig. The plan goes to hell when JT’s son decides to come early while the trio are away, forcing them to rush home to more questions than they have answers for.
Instead of coming clean and telling everyone that Ricky is a figment of their imagination, the friends instead hire Rock Hard Rod (John Cena) an alcoholic adult lounge singer whose show consists of turning some of your favourite song lyrics into puns about masturbation, complete with matching outfits in a moment that I am not afraid to say I laughed at way more than I probably should have. Rod is handed the Ricky Stanicky bible, a book containing the years of Stanicky’s exploits, his phone and social accounts, and told to read up on Ricky and be in character to meet the family and friends at JT’s son’s bris.
The problems arise when Rod makes a better Ricky than anyone could have guessed and, in the process, gets a little carried away fully embodying Ricky and refusing to be referred to as anything but. He quickly wins the favour of all around him as the charming Ricky Stanicky injecting himself into every aspect of the trio’s lives forcing the friends to constantly evolve their lie digging themselves further and further into an unknown situation.
Ricky Stanicky contains a perfect mix of comedic talent, Efron embarrassing the cool calm and always conniving Dean. Santino brings his stand-up roots front and centre giving JT an almost neurotic and explosive over the top charm while Fowler is left to play almost the conscience of the group, definitely more subdued while throwing out some quick remarks at times that make you take notice. It is however Cena that steals the show, even when the great William H Macy is on screen with invisible dongs he is pushed to the side. He brings a with him a certain presence that is unmistakable and thanks to the higher censorship rating we get to experience the full range of flat-out comical anarchy that can only be found when you let those on the comedic knife edge loose.
John Cena has really begun to find his footing in movies with a comedic twist of recent times and his cold, dry delivery of every line coupled with the look of this imposing larger than life character helps to elevate Ricky Stanicky to the heights of similar well known and loved movies in the adult comedy genre.
Ricky Stanicky was a welcomed relief, a comedy movie that doesn’t try to gross you out to get the laughs, refuses to take itself seriously and has cast full of diverse characters who seamlessly bounce off each other in a way that feels natural to anyone who has long term friendship groups that feel more like one big family. With plenty to take away from a film like this, some images I don’t ever want to see again or stories I want to hear, ultimately there is a heartfelt message underneath all the depravity that we will leave up to you to find out for yourself.
Ricky Stanicky is available on Prime Video Australia from March 7th.
