Ricky Stanicky is a return to a classic-feeling buddy comedy, with a premise so relatable that it could be a true story. It’s not, but who among us hasn’t imagined having an imaginary best friend we could use as a scapegoat for all our mistakes? The silliness and strength of that central idea kept the movie viable even after years of development hell, and it’s grabbing the attention of many people.
Ricky Stanicky is not based on a true story, nor is it inspired by any real events. It is a work of fiction that took a long time to come to fruition, but sheer perseverance has led to the film finally arriving on our screens. The movie is a comedy that thrives when embracing the silliness of the premise, however, as well as driving the project to an eventual conclusion, the story and characters resonate with viewers. This is probably because on some level we acknowledge that it is built on an idea we probably wish we had thought of ourselves.
Ricky Stanicky is a highly relatable experience
The film follows the story of three friends, who have known each other since they were kids, and who came up with a unique way of getting themselves out of trouble. They invented an imaginary fourth friend, Ricky Stanicky, who would be the scapegoat for anything that went wrong in their youthful capers. Ask anyone with siblings if they’ve ever blamed something on their brother or sister, and you’ll begin to get an idea of why this central premise is so relatable.
In the movie, the ploy worked so well that even as they grew older the boys would continue to use Ricky whenever the situation arose. Ricky would be the excuse that the friends would use to cover up their misadventures, however, it is easy to see how the shelf life of Ricky would start to expire, with those around them starting to question Ricky’s role and, of course, wonder why nobody has ever met him. With events escalating there is, of course, only one way out — hire someone to pretend they are Ricky, get the meetings out of the way, and move on with their lives as normal.
The relatability of the premise comes when you start to think about how having your own personal “Ricky” would come in handy, and perhaps, dear reader, you can even think back to a time when you have used a similar tactic to avoid some dreadful get-together, party, or social gathering. Ricky is pretty much a “get out of jail free” card, that can played at the most necessary of times, personifying the white lie that makes life more bearable. Of course, we can relate.
Other Imaginary Friends in Films
As far as Ricky Stanicky goes, the character is brought to life by John Cena, hired to make Ricky a living, breathing entity, but there have been many other make-believe friends featured in other movies.
Immediately we think of the late Rik Mayall in Drop Dead Fred, which saw the chaos entity resurface from the childhood imagination of Elizabeth, brought down by a lackluster real life, and re-discovering joy through her imaginary friend. In a darker, more complex outing, Fight Club would see Edward Norton becoming an urban terrorist and cult leader after teaming up with Tyler Durden, who was, of course, just an imaginary friend. Going one step further, Donnie Darko would befriend a giant imaginary rabbit that would put him on the right path to saving a divergent universe and sealing his own fate.
With friends like these…
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