RICKY STANICKY – A Review by John Strange
Ricky Stanicky is a “Bro Film”. Like most films in this genre, we have a group of men who may have good lives but deep down they are still children. Naughty children.
Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino), and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) are boys who get away with an ill-thought-out Halloween “trick” as young boys. It is from their method of evading arrest that Ricky Stanicky is “born”.
Over the years, the boys, and then men, use “Ricky” as an excuse to get away with whatever they desire to do, including getting away from wives and lovers for “fun” trips.
When the loved ones begin to get too suspicious, the men are faced with two options. Come clean or make Ricky appear.
They created Ricky from an Atlantic City lounge singer of… masturbation songs based on popular rock songs. (Watching that act was… scary.)
Rod Rimestead (John Cena) becomes Ricky Stanicky. It is scary just how deep he takes the character into his soul.
The rest of the story is the impersonation playing out and watching the trio twist in the wind as they learn that while they created the character, Rod/Ricky now owns it.
The two standout performances in this film are John Cena as Ricky Stanicky and William H. Macy as Ted Summerhayes, Dean and JT’s boss. I also loved seeing Jane Badler as Ted’s wife, Miriam.
To many of us, this film is filled with cringe-worthy moments but redeems itself with the ending that ties up all of the subplots very neatly.
Director: Peter Farrelly
Cast: Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, Lex Scott Davis, Anja Savcic, Jeff Ross with William H. Macy and John Cena
MPAA Rating: R (for sexual material, language throughout and some drug content)
Selig Rating: 4.0 Stars
Runtime: 113 Min.
Release Date: 03/07/2024
Release Location: Amazon Prime Video
Language: English
Movie Site: RICKY STANICKY Site
Trailer: RICKY STANICKY Official Trailer
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
