Zac Efron and John Cena’s R-rated comedy Ricky Stanicky is a limp effort - Karl Puschmann

Ricky Stanicky is streaming now on Prime Video. Photo / Ben King

OPINION

It’s the raunchy new comedy from two big Hollywood names, but does Ricky Stanicky fall flat?

Zac Efron and John Cena’s new comedy film Ricky Stanicky is best compared to an op-shop jigsaw puzzle. The box looks great and all the pieces appear to be inside, but when you go to complete it, after a couple of hours spent toiling away you come to the awful realisation one crucial piece is missing.

In the case of Ricky Stanicky, that missing piece is laughs. Specifically, big laughs. The sort that leave you gasping for breath and cause your sides to hurt and tears to stream down your face. The sort of big comedy set-piece that stays with you long after the movie has finished and puts a goofy grin on your face every time you think about it.

You’ll have your examples, but some that stick in my mind are Will Ferrell’s ill-fated half-pipe skateboarding in Daddy’s Home, Kristen Wiig drunk as a skunk on a plane in Bridesmaids or Ed Helms’ desperate, slow-motion attempt to tag Jeremy Renner during his wedding in Tag.

These are the comedic equivalent of an action movie’s thrilling car chase, hectic firefight or explosion-filled battle. Without them, well, your action movie is just a movie and your comedy is just not funny.

Ricky Stanicky is streaming now on Prime Video. Photo / Ben King

Ricky Stanicky, which is streaming now on Prime Video, sets itself up to deliver these moments a few times during its sub-two-hour running time, but instead of tearing down the park and sliding in a try, it fumbles the ball.

This is a shame, because at face value Ricky Stanicky should be a winner. It’s got a great cast that includes Willam H. Macy and comedian and podcaster Andrew Santino backing up Efron and Cena, it’s got an Academy Award-winning director who made his bones directing R-rated comedies like There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber steering the picture, and it’s got a killer idea powering it.

Despite all this, it can never rise higher than eliciting a soft chuckle.

Selling itself with a warning that it’s an “R-rated comedy”, Ricky Stanicky is about three childhood pals who invent the titular Ricky. He’s their fall guy to take all the blame for their misadventures, allowing them to cause havoc, mischief and all manner of tomfoolery without ever facing consequences. Instead of maturing out of Ricky, they become dependent on him far into adulthood, using their imaginary friend as an all-powerful excuse, reason or alibi to go on out-of-town boys’ trips, head to big concerts or weasel out of events they don’t want to attend.

Things come to a head when their long-suffering partners begin to question why they’ve never met this fourth musketeer. Desperate, the lads decide to hire an actor to pose as Ricky and join them at a family event. From there, a tightly tangled web is weaved as all four men practice to deceive and the imaginary friend Ricky becomes an all too real part of their lives.

Ricky Stanicky is streaming now on Prime Video. Photo / Ben King

There are laughs here. Mostly coming from Cena’s up-for-anything commitment to the role of alcoholic, deadbeat actor “Rock-Hard” Rod and his transformation into the humanitarian superhuman Ricky Stanicky. It’s no surprise Macy also shines as a corporate fat cat with an unfortunately X-rated tic.

But what is surprising is how tame Farrelly keeps everything. Yes, you get some amusing masturbatory lyric swaps courtesy of Cena, Macy’s uncontrollable oral sex gestures and a mohel sinking into a drug-induced stupor during a bris. But these all sound much funnier and far more wildly outrageous on paper than they are in the film.

Farrelly just doesn’t push any of these situations out anywhere near far enough.

Let’s remember that this is the man who — alongside his co-directing brother Bobby — had Ben Stiller get his privates snagged in his trouser zipper in There’s Something About Mary, had Jim Carrey endlessly shooting a resilient cow in Me, Myself and Irene and had Jeff Daniels just totally brain his love interest straight in the face with a snowball in Dumb & Dumber.

Nothing in Ricky Stanicky gets close to reaching those hilarious levels of comedic stupidity. It doesn’t fulfil the potential of its premise, its cast or its director’s filmography. I don’t know who is to blame for the comedy failing to fire, but don’t believe anyone pointing the finger at their mate Ricky.

Karl Puschmann is the Culture Editor and an entertainment columnist for the NZ Herald. His fascination lies in finding out what drives and inspires creative people.