'Ricky Stanicky' Showcases the Best of John Cena and the Worst of Peter Farrelly

By Seth Freilich | Film | March 25, 2024 |

By Seth Freilich | Film | March 25, 2024 |

Before Peacemaker had actually aired, most people expected it to be another dud of the DC Extended Universe. Instead, the wonderfully stupid opening credits became TikTok fodder, and many of us were over the moon with every other part of the show. One of the reasons for this surprise and delight is that John Cena was in full-blown “having fun” mode, which is by far Cena’s best mode. I’ll take him in Blockers over the Fast & Furious franchise every day of the week. So the most important thing I can tell you about Prime Video’s Ricky Stanicky is that Cena is preposterously committed to having fun.

In the movie, Cena plays a down-and-out actor who is working in a sketchy Atlantic City joint. Specifically, his Rod is an X-rated rock star impersonator who goes by Rock Hard Rod. And let me tell you something — you didn’t know you wanted to see John Cena doing a Billy Idol impression, but you do. Especially when he’s “White Wedding” growling “it’s a nice day for wood whacking … it’s a nice day to jizz agaaaaaaaain.” I mean this with all sincerity — the montage of Rod’s performances may be one of the funniest scenes we’ll see all year.

But let me back up. The film starts with a cold-open of three kids out to pull a Halloween prank. It goes terribly and amusingly awry, but the kids cleverly leave behind some phony evidence purporting to belong to the made-up-on-the-fly “Ricky Stanwicky.” That sends the cops off on the wrong trail while the kids realize they just “made” a new friend for life. Flash-forward to the present, and all three are grown-ass men with a make-believe friend. They blame things on Ricky when they can, use him to get out of things and take boys’ trips on the pretense of going to see and help Ricky. There’s a “bible” that maintains everything they’ve made up about Ricky, and they even have a Ricky phone so “he” can post to social media.

As the movie’s plot, as it were, kicks into gear, the trio are ditching their partners to fly to Atlantic City for a boy’s night. The pretense is that Ricky’s prior testicular cancer has returned, and they’re going to be with him. They have their phones off while in AC, so their location can’t be tracked, and this is where they have a chance encounter with Rod. When Dean (Zac Efron) puts his phone back on for a moment, he realizes his wife Erin (Lex Scott Davis) has been desperately trying to get a hold of him. The viewer knows why — this trip involved these guys ditching JT’s (Andrew Santino) baby shower, and of course, his partner Susan (Anja Savic) has gone into early labor.

If this all sounds wildly gross … yes. What starts as an amusing premise quickly careens into “these three guys are awful humans” territory. Most of the movie involves Cena’s Rod being hired by the trio to “play” Ricky Stanicky, taking this gross subterfuge to its extremes. This is ultimately where the movie lands on the weird duality referenced by my headline. Because Cena is committed throughout and is excellent. Whenever he’s on screen, the movie is amusing and feels like great Saturday night couch fare because he leans into and sells the increasingly preposterous scenarios the film drops him into.

But then when he is off screen, the film is a very uneven Farrelly joint with dumb jokes and unlikable characters. Efron’s character is the worst as the film progresses, and his performance is disappointingly flat. The film portends to have him hit rock bottom before learning valuable lessons, and this is where it’s peak Farrelly, just unearned sentimentality. The way things end for him and Santino’s JT made me want to punch my television. Only the third friend Wes (Jermaine Fowler) gets an arc resolution that feels earned an OK (it probably helps that his performance is the best of the trio’s as well). Davis is great in a miserable role, and Savic, who shines on the newly appreciated Loudermilk, is criminally underused here.

So yeah, this is half a very entertaining John Cena comedy and half a trash fest. With one exception, every time Cena is not on screen, the film grinds to a halt and winds up limping to a stupid conclusion. That one exception? Well, William H. Macy is also in the movie for a plot arc that is almost too stupid to describe. But in the third act, Macy has a scene where he asks Cena to hold his beer. I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just tell you it involves “air dicking,” and its peak Farrelly humor, both insanely stupid and broad but seriously funny. Come to Ricky Stanicky for the Cena of it all, and stay for that scene. The rest is filler.