‘Ricky Stanicky’ Review – A Farrelly Timid Comedy

The days of a Farrelly comedy being an event are long gone. This has been solidified with Ricky Stanicky, a weak entry in their once-stellar filmography. Three classics, starring the likes of Jim Carrey, Woody Harrelson, and Cameron Diaz, are now a distant memory. Sadly, the Farrelly brothers stopped making movies together in 2014, and Peter Farrelly found Oscar glory.

That film was Green Book, one of the most controversial Best Picture winners of all time. Now, Peter Farrelly has come back with a solo comedy without his brother Bobby, and it pales in comparison to their first batch of collaborations. While Ricky Stanicky has some laughs and genuine likability, the comedy overstays its welcome. The third act is stretched beyond its limits and is ultimately twenty minutes too long and too timid.

The story doesn’t follow a titular character because Ricky Stanicky doesn’t exist. He is an imaginary one, made up of three best friends. As kids, they almost burned a house down during Halloween after lighting a bag of canine waste on the owner’s front door because the home never gave away free candy. They get away by writing the name “Ricky Stanicky” on a pair of clothes and leaving it behind.

The cops find it and blame the figment of their imagination. They use the fake character as an excuse to do whatever they want and skip any function well into adulthood. This thinly veiled plan should have been unburdened years prior by anyone from parents, teachers, or social workers, but these masterminds refuse to let the plan die.

However, in the present day, Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino) use it to get out of JT’s baby shower. They have kept a “Ricky Stanicky” bible, so they keep their stories straight, even outlining a fake case of cancer. The other part of their plan blows their cover because the boys have turned off their cellphones, so they cannot be tracked. Of course, JT’s wife goes into labor. Now, they need to answer questions.

Ricky Stanicky moves the plot along by including a man named Rod (John Cena), an actor who stars in his own pornographic Karaoke-inspired stage show, with homages to mainstream films and Neil Diamond tunes. The script credits eight people with writing it. It’s amazing how badly the script falls into cliche jokes (not to mention poor taste using cancer as an excuse to see a concert) with no improvement over obvious flaws.

Your guess is as good as mine on who decided to spend so much time with how Rod pays the bills, but the montage goes on endlessly. The point is that there are way too many hands in the script. There have been so many revisions that the dialogue is painful and they add more subplot tropes than anyone needs. Then, the writers resort to using cheap stereotypes and poking fun at the LGBTQ+ community as if they are living in a different decade.

The film does find its comedic swing when they hire Cena’s Rod to play the guy’s imaginary friend. It’s an old cliche, sending in a ringer, but it works better than expected here because the character is written smarter than the three main characters. Some of these scenes are amusing, mainly because of the chemistry between the friends, who scramble to cover their tracks to protect their livelihoods and relationships.

Prime Video’s Ricky Stanicky is not worth watching, though it almost won me over. That’s because Zac Efron has moments of being very funny in the comedy. Also, Santino delivers his trademark antagonistic one-liners that are amusing. As are some situations and comedic moments. However, each of the three classic Peter Farrelly comedies has a moment of emotional resonance that Ricky Stanicky fumbles.

For example, when Lloyd tells Harry he wants to be somebody, or when Roy drives through his hometown to feel overwhelmed by melancholy. In Ricky Stanicky, there is a revelation of Efron’s character tied to abuse as a child. The moment is watered down and has no depth. This is a key scene that could have tied in all the guy’s childish escapades together.

Instead, Ricky Stanicky ends the film with a ham-fisted moment of manipulation when it could have gone darker. Peter Farrelly’s film never pushes the envelope like his previous work and plays it too safe. Those are four words I thought I would never say with a comedy and the Farrelly name. Ricky Stanicky is a worse film for it.

Rick Stanicky will be available to stream on Prime Video on March 7, 2024.