Ricky Stanicky Review: Zac Efron, John Cena Star in a Cringe-Fest

– No Spoilers –

Imagine this – it’s 2024. We are not having fun watching grown men lying to their wives to go on boys’ trips. They are communicating with their wives and letting them know that they are going on a trip and take responsibility for the commitments that they have made. They are also not leaving their heavily pregnant wives to have fun somewhere far away so that when labour suddenly starts (because babies don’t wait for your plans), they are there for their wives who are in a lot of pain and are probably also scared. Imagine a world where men aren’t absolutely horrible and we don’t laugh at them actively deceiving their partners.

So, that’s what we go through with Ricky Stanicky, a character made up of three school friends who almost burned a house down and lied to get out of trouble. In adulthood, the three have not matured although they all have families and responsibilities so now, with their cover almost blown, they hire small-time actor “Rock Hard” Rod to play the role of Ricky and save their covers. Of course, that doesn’t go as planned.

I am a little confused about what is funny in this entire situation. For 108 minutes, three grown men constantly lie and reap the benefits of those consequences. It’s also weird that no one seems to be able to understand that Rick isn’t actually Rick. Everyone in the three men’s lives is quite dull and has no gut feelings. Everyone accepts whatever is being fed to them and they swoon at Cena’s Rick doing random things, but, to his credit, he does them with conviction and confidence.

It’s interesting how, even in 2024, we are sitting here and getting these odd movies that glorify men lying to get some bro time and eventually having the consequences catching up to them. Sure, they were funny at some point, but in the present, it’s just cringy because we, as a society, have moved on from accepting that these moments are funny. Plus, it’s not even funny. The moments that are supposed to bring out the laughs are just cringy and dated – they sing about masturbation and whatnot for no reason. It’s so odd.

As with every movie like this, the protagonists don’t face any consequences and the convenient way in which the movie concluded is honestly insulting to the viewer. For one, viewers will know exactly where the storyline will go because it is so cliche that it doesn’t stray from the format that these movies always tend to follow. Surprisingly, Dean doesn’t face even some small consequences from his wife, who breaks down some points and then conveniently just makes things okay for him. Sure, he feels a little inconvenienced at some point but that just quickly goes away.

On the other hand, John Cena’s Rod is also a rather surprisingly weird character who is neither funny nor entertaining. I mean, he is made to do some odd things which are somewhat mildly entertaining but extremely cringy regardless. The problem is the humour is neither smart nor so funny that you forget that it’s not smart. The humour is, at most, stupid and the situations are so mind-numbingly infuriating that you don’t feel like laughing with three grown men who have no qualms about lying to their spouses.

I also felt that Ricky Stanicky is extremely unfair in introducing a tragic backstory for the protagonist that is simply glossed over and never explored however it still uses this shocking revelation as a way to excuse Dean’s horrible behaviour. Using a tragedy in this way is just unfair and insulting, especially for those who feel the ramifications of a difficult childhood throughout their lives. However, not everyone turns out to be a seasoned liar who has a “lie Bible” up and ready to whip out whenever they need to get their way in life.

Ricky Stanicky Review: Conclusion

In the end, Ricky Stanicky is one of those silly movies that is not just forgettable but sometimes so stupid you feel like your brain is melting. For anyone who needs to watch something while keeping their minds elsewhere, this one might be great. Other than that, I just don’t think anyone will get any sort of satisfaction from this one.

Ricky Stanicky is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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