“Sorry, my mom said I can’t go,” I used to say to avoid hanging out with someone I didn’t want to.
Prime Video
We can all admit that a little fib here and there has saved us before, but Prime Video’s Ricky Stanicky takes a little white lie to a whole new level.
Starring John Cena (Rod/Ricky Stanicky), Zac Efron (Dean), Jermaine Fowler (Wes), and Andrew Santino (JT), the film tells the story of Dean, Wes, and JT’s fake alibi, Ricky Stanicky, and what happens when the lie takes on a life of its own.
The movie opens with a flashback from Halloween 1989, where the three boys cause a ruckus at a neighbor’s home, literally causing it to go up in flames. Only minutes before the authorities come, the boys, in a panic, label a coat “Ricky Stanicky” as evidence and take flight. At that moment, the imaginary friend was born and would be used to avoid all unwanted occasions, so much so that they created a full-on bible for his backstory.
Fast-forward to the present day, and the guys use Stanicky’s “cancer” as a scapegoat to head to Atlantic City for a rave, missing JT’s baby shower and the early arrival of his son. At this point, their partners and mothers begin questioning the truth about Stanicky and ask to see him at the newborn’s brisk.
Dean calls up the X-rated celebrity impersonator ‘Rock Hard’ Rod they met in AC and offers him the gig of Ricky Stanicky. Much to the guys’ surprise, Rod exceptionally pulls off the role, even finishing the circumcision after Rabbi Greenberg (Jeff Ross) falls lucid to a wrongful Ketamine consumption.
As the brisk ends, Dean, Wes, and JT are relieved that their lie stands strong and can now send Rod on his way back to AC. Instead, they’re in for a surprise when Stanicky gets hired at the same investment firm as Dean and JT. Immediately, Dean and JT strike up a plan to get Stanicky fired by putting him on the spot at meetings and encouraging him to tell their boss about their “air-dicking” habit when trying to make a point.
Much to their dismay, this grants Stanicky a promotion that was once Dean’s, and things start to snowball. Dean’s girlfriend, Erin (Lex Scott Davis), is a TV reporter and producer who gets her big break selling Stanicky’s “bible story” of being a philanthropist and humanitarian for its “Hero of the Week” segment.
Dean’s fear begins to kick in because this not only uncovers a 20-year lie, but if the segment makes it to air, the love of his life loses all she’s worked for, which causes Dean and Stanicky to duke it out in a storage room.
Of course, at the film’s NYC premiere, we had to ask Cena how he thinks Efron would match up in the WWE, to which Cena replied, “It’s a shame this movie business worked out for Zac Efron, he’d be one hell of a WWE Superstar.”
After a slapfight reminiscent of grade school, Stanicky admits that he has no friends, family, or life, and this role has gotten him all three. The story doesn’t move Dean in any way. Also, there are some guys out to kill Stanicky?
To take a load off, Dean and Wes hit the bar, where Wes gives Dean a taste of reality. Frustrated with upholding the lie and refusing to tell the truth after numerous attempts, Wes admits that he knows why Dean is okay with creating a false reality as an adult: it’s because Wes knows Dean’s father physically abused him as a child, which is something we see bits of sprinkled throughout the film.
Wes points out that the injury Dean sustained as a kid wasn’t from falling in a ditch but from his own father, as Wes heard the incident from outside his home. Failing to admit his wrongdoings, Dean heads home to sleep off the shots, not knowing that 20 years of lies will unfold in the morning,
While researching for the segment, Erin learns the truth about Stanicky. She’s left feeling betrayed by the lies, missing out on important events, and the two trips to Dollywood the guys took. Dean momentarily loses his lover and his job when he has to confess to a crowd of people at their company’s event. Double whammy.
The “Hero of the Week” segment airs, but rather than a story on all the great things the guys’ version of Stanicky did, the segment focuses on Rod’s real story of being hired as a fake friend and what it has led to: friends, purpose, and falling in love with the excessively long-haired character Carly (Apple Farrelly).
Erin admits she found out about Stanicky before selling the story and instead changed the angle to reflect the truth. Even though the couple has a lot of broken pieces to mend, Erin credits Stanicky for helping begin the process. On the other hand, Dean’s plan somehow reflects nicely on the investment firm, and he not only earns his job back but is back in charge of the merger.
Everything seems to fall back into place, signaling the story’s closure. Until the guys out to kill Stanicky get ahold of him. But it turns out they were never trying to kill Stanicky. They were just serving him with cease and desist papers from Billy Joel’s team after witnessing ‘Rock Hard’ Rod’s overly sexual, masturbation-inspired impersonation of the “Piano Man” singer.
The gang celebrates the new merger, new beginnings, and their new best friend as they cheers to Ricky Stanicky, “the best friend we ever had.”
Dave Allocca/Starpix
What was a 15-year project in the making, as producer John Jacobs told us, is a testament to the idea that good things take time. Writer and director Peter Farrelly perfectly balances sharp comedic writing with a serious backstory that doesn’t overshadow or leave viewers feeling somber.
Instead, every character holds their own in this laugh-out-loud “bro comedy” filled with hijinks, high-flying stunts, and high-off-off-whatever moments, leading the audience to erupt in laughter every few moments and cheer when the film concludes.
Cena credits Farrelly for creating an environment that allowed him to take “big swings” during filming and mentions that the biggest takeaway from this experience is to “be coachable.” The welcoming atmosphere is apparent both onscreen and off. Anja Savcic, who played Susan, JT’s wife, in the film, told us that the cast filmed in Australia and spent a lot of time together, so that bond easily translated onscreen.
Ricky Stanicky is the raunchy comedy we’ve been looking for, for quite some time and is projected to cement itself next to films like The Hangover, American Pie, and Dumb and Dumber on the list of “Best Bro-Comedies” that we’ll keep on our watchlist for years to come.
Ricky Stanicky hits Prime Video on March 7. Check out our conversation with the cast here.
