‘Ricky Stanicky’ Review: John Cena Can’t Save Peter Farrelly’s Insipid Imaginary Friend Comedy

If you look back at motion picture history you’ll find it’s marked with suspiciously similar films being released, coincidentally or not-so coincidentally, around the same time. You probably remember “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” or “Dante’s Peak” and “Volcano.” Go back further and you’ll find “Jezebel” and “Gone with the Wind,” “Dr. Strangelove” and “Fail Safe,” and “The Howling” and “An American Werewolf in London.” The list goes on, but this phenomenon seems to have finally peaked in 2024 because I don’t think we’ll ever have another set of twin films like “Dune: Chapter Two” and “Ricky Stanicky.”

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic is an ambitious religious allegory about a false messiah cynically invented to enrich his creators, who takes on a life of his own.