Zac Efron truly has a knack for being the center of bromance films, whether he teams up with Dave Franco in the cast of Neighbors or lends a great acting performance as the oldest of the Von Erich Brothers, as noted in The Iron Claw reviews. This time around, his next movie Ricky Stanicky has him as part of a trio of friends who must hire a washed up actor to pretend to be the imaginary friend they’ve been pretending to have for decades. Critics have seen the Peter Farrelly movie before its March 7th release on the 2024 movie schedule. As it turns out, people are loving John Cena, but are wishing the movie went above the limits of R-rated humor.
Ricky Stanicky is about three longtime friends (Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, and Andrew Santino) who invented an imaginary friend they would blame for their misbehaviors when they were kids. Still keeping up that ruse as adults (though pals are suspicious), they decide to hire a washed-up actor (John Cena) to play the particular fake friend in order to keep up appearances. While Efron and Cena look hilarious in the Ricky Stanicky trailer, does the funny promo live up to the hype?
David Rooney of THR felt that Peter Farrelly, known for pushing the limits of R-rated movies with his crude humor, was playing it awkwardly safe with this one.
The virtual extinction of the midbudget R-rated studio comedies that thrived in the ‘90s might also help, as the success of Anyone But You recently showed. But even if Ricky Stanicky never met a penis joke it didn’t find side-splitting, the caution required to serve up crude humor without offending 21st century sensitivities often makes it feel as awkward as most of the cast’s comic timing.
Pete Hammond of Deadline, however, gave a more positive spin to the comedy film, feeling fans of the Farrelly Brothers will love its star-studded cast — and that John Cena’s the real stand-out.
[Peter Farrelly]’s got a game cast led by Efron, who manages to play most of it as the straight man caught up in circumstances he regrets. Santino and the terrific Fowler also have key moments, but the true scene stealer is Cena, who isn’t afraid to ‘go there’ and it pays off for him.
Peter Debruge from Variety may agree with the previous two critics of the jokes not going far enough and John Cena’s memorable comedy chops. In fact, he called the gig “the funniest performance yet” from the actor. On the other hand, Debruge had issues with the movie’s overall message.
More successful is the idea that Dean, TJ and Wes stunted their own maturity by clinging to this lie for so long (the trio’s performances are revealing variations on the man-child syndrome). Ricky Stanicky may have been a great excuse for their worst behavior, but he kept them from growing up.
Luke Y. Thompson of AV Club gave Ricky Stanicky a C-, again loving the deadpan humor John Cena brought out, but believed this streaming movie played it too safe for an R-rated movie.
Ricky Stanicky is an R-rated movie, as evidenced by at least three uses of the F-word and some drug humor, yet it feels like a mom-approved morality tale about how everything would be better if we’d all just play nice.
But Adrian Horton of The Guardian could not “see” what John Cena and co were giving. In fact he rated the comedy two out of five stars, believing the cast just wasn’t funny and that any humor in the film died out fast.
Comedy protagonists don’t have to be sympathetic, of course – some of the best, from Wedding Crashers to the Always Sunny gang, have been scoundrels. But they do need to be funny, and unfortunately, these three guys are neither. The joke that they’re immature wears thin fast; the banter feels as stale as flat beer, which is not helped by some very obvious Dos Equis product placement.
Ricky Stanicky consensus seems to be that the Peter Farrelly film didn’t push the limits you’d expect from an R-rated movie. On the plus side, John Cena is still proving to be a pretty funny actor, and we’ll have to wait and see if it’s enough to garner some eyeballs. For other examples, you can catch him in Vacation Friends and its sequel with a Prime subscription or just wait for his latest flick to drop this week.