Ricky Stanicky (2024 movie) Pants on fire!

In a tale as old as time (and just as rife with clichés), three childhood friends carry on with the same shenanigans they did as kids until the lying finally catches up with them. That crisis they proceed to avoid with—you guessed it—more lying. Only the lie gets more elaborate this time, involving an actual person.
Ricky Stanicky the movie idea has been around for so long that at some point they considered James Franco for the lead, then Joaquin Phoenix (oddly enough, then Jim Carrey. And eventually, it tumbled down to the master of amusingly dumb comedies, one of the Farrelly brothers, straight off from Loudermilk TV series, even bringing the actress from that show along to this movie.
Much like Loudermilk, this production centers on a lovable loser. Only he is much …well, louder! John Cena owns the role of Ricky Stanicky so freaking hard, as hard as his ridiculous muscles. The man is up for absolutely anything, and his commitment and versatility as an actor of considerable commitment and versatility (also failed-actor-performer-alcoholic-aspiring-good-person) work. Which is important because the entire production here hinges on Cena and Ricky. The rest is just too silly, too bland, and way too long.
The three friends are also silly and bland, or more specifically, there’s a rather jerky redhead JT, a genuinely amusing soul of the trio Wes, and the much too beautiful to be effective as an actor Zac Efron. Seriously, Efron’s a triple treat, but outside of musicals, is completely limited by his musclebound prettiness. As in he always looks like the prettiest bro at a frat party, which works nicely for things like Neighbors (and Neighbors 2 if one must) but does nothing in other productions.
Cena, though, is so much fun to watch. From his crooning impersonation to his Pinocchio-like character journey of a giant slab of wood who wants so desperately to be a real boy that he becomes one.
Overall, a mildly, rather inoffensively amusing take on American dream where anyone gets to be who they want to be if they really, really willing to commit to the lie. Or something rather …