A long gestating project that has now finally been unleashed into the public domain via Amazon Prime after years of development hell that saw the project at various times have names such as Jim Carey, Nicolas Cage and Joaquin Phoenix, legendary comedic director Peter Farrelly's latest solo outing Ricky Stanicky is a rare breed of modern day comedy that feels like a 90's early 2000's affair for both good and bad reasons.
Filmed locally in Australia in and around the Victorian city of Melbourne, Stanicky's Providence, Rhode Island set tale of a bunch of childhood friends turned adults who invent an imaginary friend/person to get them out of trouble and out of such horrible things such as baby showers and date nights is one that has ample potential to provide off the wall hijinks but despite a typical Farrelly feel to everything and an extremely committed turn from John Cena as struggling actor and made-up Ricky Stanicky/Rod Rimestead, Stanicky is an overlong exercise that doesn't have the juice to keep the wheels in motion across its close to two hour runtime.
Things get off to a relatively solid start as Zac Efron's Dean, Andrew Santino's JT and Jermaine Fowler's Wes enjoy their get out of jail free card that is Ricky Stanicky while Cena's early appearances as the down on his luck Rimestead provide some of the films most memorable moments but as the film starts to venture along and add in extra subplots and the initial novelty of Cena playing a make believe best friend starts to wear off, you quickly begin to realise that there's not enough strong material here to maximise the potential that Stanicky's premise provides on paper.
Honing is craft in the likes of cult TV show Peacemaker and films such as Trainwreck and Blockers, Cena has quickly become one of the most entertaining comedic performers working today and he is a clear highlight of Stanicky.
Whether it's dressing up as Britney Spears and putting a whole new spin on some of her classics or getting involved in a Jewish ceremony in a very hands on way, Cena stands out amongst an otherwise pedestrian feeling performing ensemble that continues on Farrelly's recent struggles to keep himself on top of the comedy genre he once played such an important role in.
Never to be forgotten thanks to this collaborations with his brother Bobby, more recent comedy entries such as The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Dumb and Dumber To, The Three Stooges and Hall Pass show a director well passed his prime and while amongst all of that he had huge success with the Oscar winning Green Book, Stanicky is another mediocre effort from a one time master who should perhaps leave the comedic landscape to fresh talent from here on out.
Final Say -
There's some cheap laughs to be had here, particularly early on and there's no denying John Cena gives it his all but for the most part Ricky Stanicky is a tired feeling feature that may be passable as a streaming option for a night on the couch but provides nothing we haven't seen done before and done much better.
2 reinterpreted songs out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)
Filmed locally in Australia in and around the Victorian city of Melbourne, Stanicky's Providence, Rhode Island set tale of a bunch of childhood friends turned adults who invent an imaginary friend/person to get them out of trouble and out of such horrible things such as baby showers and date nights is one that has ample potential to provide off the wall hijinks but despite a typical Farrelly feel to everything and an extremely committed turn from John Cena as struggling actor and made-up Ricky Stanicky/Rod Rimestead, Stanicky is an overlong exercise that doesn't have the juice to keep the wheels in motion across its close to two hour runtime.
Things get off to a relatively solid start as Zac Efron's Dean, Andrew Santino's JT and Jermaine Fowler's Wes enjoy their get out of jail free card that is Ricky Stanicky while Cena's early appearances as the down on his luck Rimestead provide some of the films most memorable moments but as the film starts to venture along and add in extra subplots and the initial novelty of Cena playing a make believe best friend starts to wear off, you quickly begin to realise that there's not enough strong material here to maximise the potential that Stanicky's premise provides on paper.
Honing is craft in the likes of cult TV show Peacemaker and films such as Trainwreck and Blockers, Cena has quickly become one of the most entertaining comedic performers working today and he is a clear highlight of Stanicky.
Whether it's dressing up as Britney Spears and putting a whole new spin on some of her classics or getting involved in a Jewish ceremony in a very hands on way, Cena stands out amongst an otherwise pedestrian feeling performing ensemble that continues on Farrelly's recent struggles to keep himself on top of the comedy genre he once played such an important role in.
Never to be forgotten thanks to this collaborations with his brother Bobby, more recent comedy entries such as The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Dumb and Dumber To, The Three Stooges and Hall Pass show a director well passed his prime and while amongst all of that he had huge success with the Oscar winning Green Book, Stanicky is another mediocre effort from a one time master who should perhaps leave the comedic landscape to fresh talent from here on out.
Final Say -
There's some cheap laughs to be had here, particularly early on and there's no denying John Cena gives it his all but for the most part Ricky Stanicky is a tired feeling feature that may be passable as a streaming option for a night on the couch but provides nothing we haven't seen done before and done much better.
2 reinterpreted songs out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)