I remember when wrestling star The Rock started to become Dwayne Johnson, the actor. It wasn’t impossible, it just never really happened before, and when it did, it led to some great action movies and sneaky great performances before he became the safe chiseled action kinda comedian that he is today. But as hard as Johnson tries to be funny, John Cena effortlessly pulls it off. After the failed action star Marine movies, Cena pivoted to comedy in Trainwreck, and found his calling. Ricky Stanicky is one of the last steps he has to pass to become a true comedy great: put a mediocre movie on your shoulders to deliver a comedy finisher to the delight of streamers everywhere.
Ricky Stanicky is the first halfway decent Farrelly Brothers comedy premise in a long time. Friends Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino) have been using “Ricky Stanicky” as their bailout card all their lives. Why did they have to leave town instead of crocheting? Oh, “Ricky” had cancer, and the guys needed to be there for him eg get hammered and golf 36. The sh*t hits the fan when JT’s wife goes into labor early, and he misses his kid’s birth. Everyone close to these 3 realizes they’ve never met Ricky in person, and demand to ASAP, forcing the trio to hire Rock Hard Ron (John Cena) who they met on their latest trip, to pose as him one last time before they “kill Ricky off” for good.
This movie comes alive the minute we see Cena. His Rock Hard Ron persona shows maybe Cena’s best characteristic as a comedian: he’s willing to do ANYTHING for a joke, including eviscerating any dignity in any of his characters. That’s easy for Cena’s Ron: he’s basically a blank slate running from his past, so Cena can play him like a comedleon: a comedy chameleon. Cena double method acts, playing Ron playing “Ricky Stanicky” using the Stanicky Bible the guys did to keep track of what “Ricky” has done in the past. This all culminates in a bris sequence, where Cena holds court, confidently, stupidly inhabiting this confusing excuse amalgam of a person in the most humorous ways possible. The movie never gets better than that, but that’s because the movie sidelines him for the emotional reveals. Whenever he pops up though, he’s a wonderful walking chaos agent, giving different comedic beats: the confident idiot, the insecure psycho, the needy hanger on, etc.
Of the sprawling, mostly good cast, only William H. Macy gets to Cena’s level, as a boss constantly at war with himself. The three leads are shockingly forgettable for being so funny in other things. I’m most disappointed in Zac Efron, who carried the Neighbors films like Cena does here, but basically chooses to play this like his Iron Claw character for some insane reason. Peter Farrelly is past his glory days, but at least he has the bris sequence in this one. But other than that, the rest of this movie is pretty forgettable, including a really bad ending that’s not funny enough or sincere enough, it’s just…stupid, and not in the good Farrelly way. Plus, Peter’s really got to bring in a female writer to help him write a good female character; at least he doesn’t make them take their clothes off, so that’s progress I guess?
Cena’s last step is leading a comedy by himself, and having it be a big hit. Vacation Friends almost got there, but missed. But as we saw at the Oscars, he’s up for anything, which hopefully will prove him well as he continues his ascent to comedy greatness. I CAN see you my guy!