Richard Crouse

“Ricky Stanicky,” a new feel-good comedy from director Peter Farrelly, starring Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, John Cena and Jermaine Fowler, and now streaming on Amazon Prime, is light on laughs but heavy on heart.

Ever since they were kids, best friends Dean, JT, and Wes (Efron, Santino and Fowler) have used a fictional friend named Ricky Stanicky as a fall guy for their hijinks. Even though he doesn’t exist, he’s been their alibi forever. They’ve used him as an excuse to go on guy’s weekends to Atlantic City, or catch a concert, and then blame him for anything that went wrong. “The best friend we never had,” says Dean.

But when Dean ups the ante and announces to his wife that Ricky has cancer, and the guys need to see him, Wes thinks they may have taken the ruse a bit too far.

“Why does it have to be cancer?” he asks. “You want everyone to get worried?”

“Yeah,” Dean says. “And that’s going to take us right into the World Series.”

When the boys split town, Dean’s wife (Lex Scott Davis) tries to track them down, only to discover there is no record of a Ricky Stanicky at any hospital anywhere.

Caught in their lifelong lie, they panic.

“If the truth does come out,” says JT, “my marriage is over.”

The plan to hire an actor to play Ricky leads them to Rock hard Rod (Cena), an X-rated rock and roll impersonator, who immediately ingratiates himself with their significant others and their boss Summerhayes (William H. Macy).

“Ricky Stanicky” has the earmarks of a Farrelly film; the outrageous premise, the jokes that come very close to the line and broad comedic performances (ie: John Cena dressed like “Baby One More Time” era Britney Spears). But underneath the silly stuff is an almost touching story about a man who finds a new way to get through life.

“My job sucked,” Ricky/Rod says. “I had no friends. But now I have all those things.”

It’s the same kind of subterfuge the Farrellys played with “There’s Something About Mary,” a gross-out comedy about finding true love. “Ricky Stanicky” doesn’t have the hard laughs of that film, but, in Cena, it does have a star who is able to effectively mix-and-match the silly with the saccharine. That combo is the key to the modest success of “Ricky Stanicky.”

It’s a shame Cena isn’t given a more convincing framework to play inside. The premise has lots of potential, but Farrelly and his laundry list of writers (five listed in the credits including Farrelly) emphasize the Hallmark aspects of the story over the humorous ones.

There’s something about “Ricky Stanicky.” There’s a good cast, bolstered by Cena’s charm, and the occasional deep laugh but the mix of humour and heart never quite finds the right balance.