A few months ago pictures of John Cena in a plaid skirt, black nylons, and high heels—à la Britney Spears—circulated on the internet. Finally, the movie where he dresses like Brit-Brit in the “Baby One More Time” music video has a trailer.
Ricky Stanicky is an upcoming comedy from Amazon MGM Studios. The rated-R comedy looks like a better version of the late 1990s/early 2000s comedies that centered on dudes being dudes. Although I’ve come to dislike many of those movies, I loved them when they first came out so I’m all for giving this type of comedy an upgrade.
Director Peter Farrelly co-wrote and directed There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber, so that vibe is there. Written by Jeff Bushell, Brian Jarvis, James Lee Freeman, Peter Farrelly, Pete Jones, and Mike Cerrone, Ricky Stanicky looks like bro-comedy 2.0.
Of course, there are other people in Ricky Stanicky besides John Cena, even though he’s the one I can’t get out of my head. (Once you see his gams in heels, you’ll know what I mean.) Ricky Stanicky also stars Zac Efron (The Iron Claw), Andrew Santino (Dave), Jermaine Fowler (A Murder at the End of the World), Anja Savcic (Nancy Drew), and William H. Macy (Shameless).
Honestly, as horrible as these three friends are for lying their entire lives about having a fourth friend, it is funny and kind of awesome that they’ve pulled it off for so many years. Amazingly, no one has questioned them until now. Once John Cena enters the mix, we have an unhinged mess. Cena didn’t need to go so hard with this one but he did and I love him for it.
Here’s the official plot for Ricky Stanicky:
When three childhood best friends pull a prank gone wrong, they invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky to get them out of trouble! Twenty years after creating this ‘friend,’ Dean, JT, and Wes (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler) still use the nonexistent Ricky as a handy alibi for their immature behavior. When their spouses and partners get suspicious and demand to finally meet the fabled Mr. Stanicky, the guilty trio decide to hire washed-up actor and raunchy celebrity impersonator “Rock Hard” Rod (John Cena) to bring him to life. But when Rod takes his role of a lifetime too far, they begin to wish they’d never invented Ricky in the first place.
Ricky Stanicky premiers on March 7, only on Prime Video. The movie has a runtime of 108 minutes which makes it seem like an ideal evening film. People with kids will know what I’m talking about.
(featured image: Amazon MGM Studios)
