When I was a certain age, a hot topic of conversation was, “Is wrasslin' real?” Early on, I was in the “Wrasslin' is fake” camp, but I realize now that I was wrong. Professional wrestling isn't exactly fake; it's staged. Sure, all that stuff about good guys and bad guys is scripted, but those dudes and gals really are jumping off the top rope, doing flips and such. You shouldn't call it “fake” any more than you would call a production of Shakespeare fake. Pro wrestlers are actors who do their own stunts, which is why it should be no surprise that so many of them succeed in Hollywood. John Cena is the latest wrestler to break into movies, and I gotta say, the guy is entertaining, with good comic timing.
In “Ricky Stanicky,” Cena plays a fictional character come to life. Dean (Zac Efron),Wes (Jermaine Fowler), and JT (Andrew Santino) are childhood friends who get into a scrape. To deflect the blame, they invent a fictional kid whom they name Ricky Stanicky. As silly as the rapidly-contrived name is, the scheme works, and the kids proceed to grow up and go through life using Ricky as a go-to excuse. As adults, Ricky and his fictitious fight with cancer serve as an excuse to miss baby showers and other family obligations, until they almost get caught in the lie and are obliged to produce this mysterious friend. Desperate, the guys hire a down-on-his-luck Las Vegas performer (Cena) to portray Ricky and meet their wives and families. You can pretty much figure out the rest from there.
This is not a memorable film. It's a silly movie with only two points in its favor: 1) a fun name and 2) John Cena. Everyone else in the film, including Zac Efron, is forgettable, but Cena exudes enough charm to carry the movie. As Ricky, he worms his way into his new friends' lives in ways they didn't anticipate, inviting us and them to re-consider what is real and what is fake.
3 stars out of 5
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