John Cena continues his surprisingly effective lovable goofball shtick in Peter Farrelly's Ricky Stanicky, a refreshingly old school comedy and by old school I don't mean mid 2000's Seth Rogen type stuff, I mean late 90's to *early* 2000's era when the Farrellys were top of their game. There's just something so unmistakable yet kind of inexplicable about their brand of humour, and I miss it. Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler and Andrew Santino (Bad Friends Podcast!) are three lifelong pals who have made up a nonexistent best friend called Ricky Stanicky to throw under the bus anytime they get in trouble. It's worked for them so far but they've gotten so deep into such a silly lie that now their wives wanna meet this Ricky fella. In desperation they turn to alcoholic, washed up porn actor RockHard Rod (Cena) to play this fictitious Stanicky character and it goes about as uproariously off the rails as you might expect. Now I read that Jim Carrey was an original choice for the role which would have presented a totally different energy indeed, in another timeline. There's something so off the wall about seeing a dude like Cena, built like an F-350, playing an utterly silly screwball like Rod and pretending to be a guy who completely doesn't even exist yet has an elaborate false backstory written for him. It's a terrific premise and it's given the typically hilarious Farrelly treatment, even if it's only one of the brothers behind the camera this time. All the actors are more than game and do a fine job including William H. Macy doing a hysterical lampoon of his usually sincere persona and Farrelly's own daughter Apple in a lowkey scene stealing turn as Rod's refreshingly down to earth, adorably awkward love interest. It's just fun, in an era when comedy has often forgotten to be so, I've always had a deep love and nostalgic appreciation for the Farrelly's creative output and it's so comforting to see that decades after their heyday they're still making great comedy.
Review of Ricky Stanicky
