Hiya!

Before I get into the review itself, I have to mention I watched Ricky Stanicky over the weekend at a friend’s house because she has a subscription to Amazon Prime Video and I just wanted to see what John Cena was up to since Peacemaker. It was just for a lark we saw the film. I even had this funny story about how I felt so lucky to have a friend who has Amazon Prime Video because I didn’t feel like subscribing to watch a single movie.

I’m saying this now because I don’t want to get lumped in with the people who might be watching Ricky Stanicky after what John Cena did during the most recent Oscars where he came on stage seemingly naked to give the award to Best Costume Designs. Yep, it’s honestly just pure luck I made the choice to watch Ricky Stanicky before all this brouhaha started.

Anyway, let’s go to my SPOILER FREE review of Ricky Stanicky. Now, I’m making this a SPOILER FREE review as it is a new movie and I’m guessing there are some people, thanks to the naked John Cena incident, who may be thinking of seeing the film now. So, yeah. SPOILER FREE.

Ricky Stanicky is all about a group of friends who, during their childhood, made up a fake friend named Ricky Stanicky who they would use as a scapegoat when they got into trouble or if they wanted to shirk their responsibilities to goof off at a concert. They push it too far at one point and their respective families become suspicious as they’ve never met Ricky Stanicky before. In order to continue the lie, the trio hire an alcoholic out-of-work loser of an actor named Rock Hard Ron to play the role of Ricky Stanicky for one day. Things get out of hand as their families and even their boss become so enamored with Ricky Stanicky that they bring him into their lives.

I already mentioned I was sold just because John Cena was in it but, honestly, it was more of the premise behind the film. I like the idea of a lie becoming too complex and elaborate and people trying to cover it up in wild ways just so they can avoid responsibilities. I think we’ve all done this before but not to this exaggerated extent.

I also think John Cena was the perfect person to play Ricky Stanicky as there is an earnest quality in him trying to live up to the lofty expectations of him being this reformed troublemaker turned environmentalist. He presents an almost genuine naivety as he’s just so grateful to have another chance in life. I can’t say the same about the rest of the cast, though.

I don’t really see why they needed to get Zac Efron as the straight laced leader of the group, Dean. I get Zac Efron is a decent actor but he just feels miscast here. The other friends and family members also don’t really add too much to the story as they feel like afterthoughts in the grand scheme of things.

The only other guy besides John Cena who feels like a genuine character in the film is William H. Macy as Zac Efron’s character’s boss. Sure, he’s playing the same straight faced character he usually plays in all his roles. Even so, there’s just an energy in his mannerisms and speech which makes him a fun character overall. I really wish I could say that for the rest of the cast, though.

The main story is pretty good but the secondary storylines don’t really contribute to the main plot all that much. They’re mostly there to give the other secondary characters some kind of character arc to fulfill, which is actually kind of a disservice to Ricky Stanicky’s journey. There are also scenes which are introduced and you would think there would be a callback to them later in the movie but they don’t really return or be given a satisfying conclusion. They seem to be there just to pad the film’s 114-minute runtime.

This is also another issue I have with Ricky Stanicky: it’s too overstuffed with stuff. I already mentioned about the side stories and there are a lot of them which feels unnecessary. As this is a SPOILER FREE review, I won’t be talking about them, but they really feel distracting as they already have a goldmine of a central premise. If they only focused on Zac Efron’s character and his friends just trying to cover up the Ricky Stanicky lie and getting more and more frantic as the lie spirals out of control, that should have been enough to carry the movie. I would’ve been okay if the film was just around 90 minutes long if they just allowed the Ricky Stanicky premise to breathe on its own instead of having to share the air with the sidestories which don’t amount to anything.

However, it is the Ricky Stanicky premise which ends up saving the film for me. When they do focus on the central idea, the film is actually pretty funny. That’s mostly because John Cena is able to pull off the doofus persona pretty well. He seems like a guy who’s okay making fun of himself so he’s able to make it work. Then again, you saw what he did during the Oscars, so you know he’s fine being the butt of the joke, right?

Byee!

Have you seen Ricky Stanicky? What did you think of it? Better question: do you really believe John Cena was naked during the Oscars? Let me know in the comments section below!.