Ricky Stanicky Review – Bros Before Brains
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
One of the most fun bits of the 2024 comedy “Ricky Stanicky” is the opening sequence, where the lead trio are introduced as little boys trying to prank somebody on Halloween night. However, when their prank goes horribly wrong, the boys create an imaginary boy called Ricky Stanicky to take the fall for their actions. Throughout the years, they persist in using the fabricated Ricky as an excuse for all their immature antics. But as the lies start to unravel, they devise a ludicrous scheme to avoid facing the consequences from their significant others.
Directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Jeffrey Bushell, Brian Jarvis, and James Lee Freeman, “Ricky Stanicky” is an R-rated comedy. While it’s intended for adults, it employs very childish humor – some jokes hit the mark, most fall flat. Although, if you go with very low expectations, it might turn out be highly entertaining. So there’s a little tip.
Zac Efron, Andrew Santino and Jermaine Fowler play best-friends Dean, JT, and Wes respectively, who keep fibbing about their imaginary BFF Ricky Stanicky. When the trio opt to skip JT’s wife’s baby shower party, citing the need to support their supposed cancer-stricken pal Ricky, the pressure escalates as they are expected to bring Ricky to a family gathering. To resolve the dilemma, the friends enlist the help of a Las Vegas performer named Rod (John Cena) to impersonate Ricky Stanicky for the day, leading to more chaos.
“Ricky Stanicky” is essentially a no-brainer comedy about a bunch of man-children, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else, however, the writing could’ve used a lot more wit. John Cena is kinda hilarious as “Rock Hard” Rod, a failed actor and struggling Las Vegas performer who turns popular songs into raunchy parodies, but except for his Britney Spears get-up, nothing is ‘laugh out loud’ material. Just imagining any bulky former wrestler in a “Hit Me Baby One More Time” costume is funny enough, but points to the writers for that. When Rod is hired to play Ricky Stanicky, he takes the role too seriously, winning over everybody and inviting new problems for the friends.
In a clever ploy, to avoid the whole “straight dudes being douche-bags” cliche, the writers make Jermaine Fowler’s Wes an openly gay aspiring author. He is also the goofiest of the trio, as Zac Efron, Andrew Santino as Dean and JT are a lot more uptight, and the two also work together in the same firm. Zac Efron seemed out of place in the film, he was too stiff and looked like he was part of a different set altogether.
The second-half of the film gets wacky, makes little sense, and is not very funny. But if you’re looking for a buddy-comedy, with a lot of expletives and raunchy jokes, “Ricky Stanicky” might prove to be a fun enough watch.
You can stream the film on Prime Video.
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