Ricky Stanicky (2024)
Directed by Peter Farrelly
Written by Jeff Bushell, Peter Farrelly, Pete Jones, Mike Cerrone, Brian Jarvis, James Lee Freeman
Starring John Cena, Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, William H. Macy
Release Date March 7th, 2024
Published March 8th, 2024
I am ashamed at how many times I laughed during Ricky Stanicky. I feel, because I am a high-minded professional film critic, that my palette should be more... sophisticated. Comedy should have the air of sophistication, the notion of being intelligent. It should have deeper meaning and larger goals beyond just getting a laugh. And yet, there are movies like Ricky Stanicky that wear their stupid on their sleeve and remain mildly irresistible.
Don't get me wrong, I don't love Ricky Stanicky. It's not always a winner. The film is deeply low brow and the plot mechanics are iffy at best. What works however are the performances of the main cast which work very hard, sweatily trying to make you laugh. That's certainly the case for star John Cena, the former pro wrestling champion who kicks his dignity to the wind and throws himself into a deeply meme-able performance, for better and for worse.
