Peter Farrelly knows quite a bit about making successful comedy movies. Now, he has given usRicky Stanicky, a film that attempts to get back to his roots of weirdly silly comedies set in Rhode Island. The film is definitively niche but is a bit of a return to form for the veteran director.
The problem is that Farrelly falls into a self-made trapby adding dramato an otherwise odd little romp. This is something that comedy directors often feel they need to throw in, but it hardly ever works or needs to be there. So why did Farrelly include a completely throwaway scene that brings the film to a grinding halt? Let’s take a look.
Peter Farrelly Has a Successful Resume in Comedy
For decades, the Farrelly name has been synonymous with goofball comedies that often feature gross-out moments. Peter Farrelly did not start alone.He and his brotherBobby worked together to make films such asDumb and Dumber(1994) andThere’s Something About Mary(1998), both huge hits eminently quotable by their target generation.
The brothers decided to part ways after 2014’sDumb and Dumber To. Peter’s first solo project wasGreen Book(2018), which won the Oscar for Best Picture. However, the film’s content and accuracy were questioned in hindsight, leading tobacklash and outrage. Peter returned to his roots withThe Greatest Beer Run Ever(2022), starring Zac Efron. He has now followed that film withRicky Stanicky, his second film with Efron.
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The Oscar-winning Green Book director and the Oscar-nominated Fargo star spoke to MovieWeb about their Zac Efron and John Cena comedy.
The question and criticism that Farrelly undoubtedly receives is whether he can still be funny and if he can be funny without his brother to help him.Ricky Stanickywill not win awards, but it is a silly comedy that brings together some great talent and puts them in strange situations.
A brief overview: Dean (Zac Efron), Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino) have been friends forever. When a childhood mishap threatens to get them in quite a bit of trouble, they invent Ricky Stanicky, a fabricated friend who takes the blame. It turns out Stanicky is a useful tool, and they begin using him as their fall guy for bad behavior and their alibi to get out of situations. However, they never stop. Even as adults, they lie to their partners to get out of events by saying that Ricky has cancer or that his cancer has returned.
Only Wes seems to feel guilty abouttheir long con. But when they are suddenly confronted about Stanicky’s existence, they hire Rock-Hard Rod (John Cena), a parody song singer and actor, to play the part of Stanicky. They give him their Stanicky bible that contains every detail of their duplicity and unleash him on their family, friends, and coworkers. Craziness ensues as Rod becomes Stanicky, infiltrating their lives and creating a new persona threatening the three men and their situations. It’s a buddy movie, a coming-of-age story, and, at its heart, a drama. Whether the audience needs it or not.
Ricky Stanicky Shouldn’t Include Dramatic Scenes
Ricky Stanicky
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Let’s talk about the scene that cuts into the comedy and makes an attempt to put a dramatic core under the entire goofball plot. At just under 90 minutes into the film, when everything seems to be going wrong, Wes confronts Dean in a bar. He tells him that he knows why he lies so much. It isn’t just for the fun of it.
“I went back to your place to see if you was there… and you were. And I heard him. I heard what he did to you.”
“That was an accident. He was drunk.”
“There you go again, you’re lying. Dude, I understand you grew up in a fd up house, and you had a fd up father, and that’s why you slept over me and JT’s house, and that’s probably why you started to lie, to protect yourself.”
This shocking reveal ofdrunken child abuseis not played for cheap laughs. It is meant to put the film’s absurd premise into some grounded context. The scene is just around two minutes long and could have been cut out entirely. The viewer was not asking for some explanation. The film is chugging along, silly scene after silly scene, and then bam! Complete stop. It is as if Peter couldn’t quite let go of hisGreen Booksaccharine and felt he had to give his lead a powerful moment to storm out, realizing his pain and finding the difficulty in the truth. Of course, there is no real reckoning. All we get is an extremely brief chat with his girlfriend, followed by a few misdirects and an improbable happy ending. All of which would be fine if not for the “big reveal.”
Comedy Movies Fall for the Dramatic Trap
This is not the first comedy movie to feature a dramatic turn. Directors love to include these scenarios all the time. It’s as if they believe the audience needs to see some kind of grounding to feel a connection to the film when, in truth, audiences are perfectly fine with comedy. Sure, every story has something for the protagonist to overcome, but that doesn’t need to be anything particularly dramatic, especially in a movie likeRicky Stanicky.
Ricky Stanickywas never going to be high art, but that wasn’t Peter Farrelly’s goal. However, it could have been a straight-up comedy with one simple edit. Luckily, in somewhat typical Farrelly-comedic fashion, the rest of the film doesn’ttake itself too seriously.Ricky Stanicky, starring Zac Efron and John Cena, is streaming now on Prime Video.
