Someone with John Cena's charisma will one day get a movie worthy of the wrestler-turned-actor, but Amazon MGM Studios' "Ricky Stanicky" is not that. He performs as if the script was written in gold and not by six credited writers, and that is truly a shame. It wastes not only his time, but mine, and life is too short to not laugh during a comedy.
The films centers around three friends, Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler) and JT (Andrew Santino), who all their lives used their unseen friend Ricky Stanicky as a reason to "not" do something. Don't want to go to a baby shower for JT's son? No worries, just pretend Ricky's cancer is back. Because you know, cancer is always funny.
They have a bible chronicling each time Ricky is used, so that all three men are consistent with details. And while not at the aforesaid baby shower, they bump into an alcoholic actor who sings about masturbation to the tune of famous songs as "Rock-hard Ron." Think "Weird Al" but rated X, only his lyrics are about as funny as any penis joke you'd see written on the stall of a high school restroom.
But the trio's plan backfires, somehow only just now, when JT's wife goes into labor early. Now the boy's have to explain why they weren't in a hospital in Albany NY for this "Ricky," since she, her mother, his mother, and everyone else's significant other called "every hospital and no one had a record of a Ricky Stanicky." Dean explains that Ricky's cancer wasn't really back, but that it was a rouse to get to see his friends. Honestly, Rick is a dick. But the sitcom doesn't stop there, since he also promises that Ricky will be there for the bris, which is what all friends go to, leaving the boys in a panic to figure out how their imaginary friend will make an appearance.
"Why not hire an actor to play him?" says Dean to a panicked JT and Wes, and wouldn't you know it, they just meant an actor! Ron! What a convenient turn of events!
What follows is a series of obvious plot points that borrows from other films; take, for example, when Ricky ends up getting a job with Dean and JT after impressing their boss at the bris, played by William H. Macy, with his "fresh perspective." It's dumb and dated and ripped straight from better movies like "Big," only with sex jokes instead floor pianos.
It also doesn't make any sense, since you'd think a corporation would have HR or recruiting who do things like background checks. Maybe if they got a seventh screenwriter, they'd work out the plot holes.
I could go on and on but why bother, if you've seen the trailer, then you've seen the whole thing, and if you've ever seen a "comedy of misidentification," well, you probably had a better time watching that. I didn't laugh once during the entire runtime, my face numb and disinterested as I stared at my large flat-panel TV, wondering why I decided this was a good way to spend a Saturday. I didn't have to pay for popcorn, so I suppose that's something.
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