'Ricky Stanicky' review: Laughs hard come to by in this 'comedy'

WHAT IT'S ABOUT When three young friends find that a neighborhood prank has gone terribly wrong, a bout of inspiration strikes: Leave some evidence to throw off the cops and pin the blame on an imaginary person named Ricky Stanicky.

The ruse works well in this new comedy from director Peter Farrelly (“Green Book”). It works so well, in fact, that the friends keep relying on Stanicky to cover for their bad behavior, over and over again, for decades, well into adulthood.

This continues even as one of the pals, JT (Andrew Santino), prepares to become a father. He bails on his wife Susan (Anja Savcic) during her baby shower, using Stanicky's “cancer” as a plot to sneak off with Dean (Zac Efron) and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) for a boys' trip to Atlantic City.

The deception nearly crumbles when Susan has the baby while the boys are partying. It becomes apparent to our trio that they'll need to find a real Ricky Stanicky to make an appearance and put the absolutely appropriate fears to rest.

Fortunately, they've just meant a very down-on-his luck actor named Rod (John Cena), who makes his living doing a very weird stage show. Rod takes the gig, transforms into Ricky Stanicky, and away we go.

MY SAY It's a good thing that this movie has been promoted as a comedy, because you wouldn't know it from watching. 

“Ricky Stanicky” is as funny as a cold shower, a dreary winter's day, a bad stomachache, you get the drift. 

It has fewer laughs (2 or 3) than screenwriters (6).

It's so misconceived that it can be hard to know where to begin, but might as well start with the fact that the three friends are not just unlikable but downright contemptible.

There's nothing redeeming about them, nothing amusing about their creepy games, and no desire generated for anything but their utter humiliation.

Every movie character worth anything has some sort of flaw; in general, that's the wellspring for effective storytelling. But when you've made them so awful, in so many ways, empathy transforms into revulsion.

Let's be clear about something: This is not Cena's fault. He's game to go broad with his performance, to be ridiculous as Rod/Ricky and to place himself in situations that other actors might have found genuinely humiliating. His comic gifts remain quite apparent. He's the only source of anything joyful or amusing.

But he's forced to endure one sophomoric, inane joke after another as Farrelly reverts to his worst instincts. A lot of where the humor goes is unprintable here, but suffice it to say it roots itself in the gutter and stays there.

That's not a fundamental problem, of course. In “Dumb & Dumber,” all those years ago, this very same filmmaker (along with his brother Bobby) showed how to make a comedy about witless people, with gross-out gags, that had an art and a shape to it. He should re-watch it for a refresher course.

BOTTOM LINE Excruciating.