Zac Efron went to extreme lengths to escape Troy Bolton, the popular teenage dream character from Disney’s High School Musical, and transform into professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich for the biographical sports drama The Iron Claw.
However, the Baywatch star’s dramatic turn in the story about the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who make history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s, wasn’t received well by the Academy Awards jury and ended up with zero Oscar nominations. Now, the trailer of his new movie with John Cena, Ricky Stanicky, has failed to impress fans.
What Fans Are Complaining About John Cena and Zac Efron’s New Movie Trailer
After conveying the triumphs and tragedies of Kevin Von Erich in Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw, Zac Efron is back to his roots, starring in the comedy-drama Ricky Stanicky.
The movie follows three childhood friends (Efron is one of the friends, Dean), who pull a prank gone wrong. They invent the imaginary Ricky Stanicky (John Cena) to get them out of trouble. Two decades later, their lie (and Ricky) comes back to bite them as they continue to use their nonexistent friend as a handy alibi for their immature behavior.
Turns out, the characters aren’t the only ones who took things too far.
Even the minds behind Ricky Stanicky’s trailer didn’t realize when and where to stop and ended up more or less telling the whole story in the space of two minutes and 43 seconds — or at least that’s what some fans on social media think.
Felt like I just watched the whole movie.
— Dickie Galoot (@wynzday) January 27, 2024
Damn trailers really show it all nowadays. Even the “you lied to me” scene, I don’t even need to watch it anymore
— applchu 🔞 (@applchu) January 26, 2024
sick that was a great movie I just watched
— Al (@al_desanc) January 27, 2024
original plots are such a breathe of fresh air
— ivani 🍵 (@brownsugahboba) January 26, 2024
the whole movie is in that trailer.
— Jordan Davies (@jordan_davies) January 27, 2024
How accurate these fans’ observations are will only become clear from March 7 — the scheduled release date of the Amazon MGM Studios feature.
Read more: Zac Efron’s Iron Claw Intentionally Missed Out a Tragic Story of the Von Erich brothers
John Cena Wasn’t the First Choice to Play the Titular Character in Zac Efron’s New Movie
The Peter Farrelly-directed film has been in the works since long. In 2013, Jim Carrey was attached for the titular role and Steve Oedekerk was roped in to direct and write the comedy. Before the Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls star, James Franco and Joaquin Phoenix were also considered to play Ricky.
More than a decade later, the story comes to the fore with a very different creative team and instead of Carrey, Cena has assumed the responsibility to become the washed-up actor turned fake friend.
Akin to Efron, Ricky Stanicky also marks a return to comedy from action for Cena, who most recently starred in Freelance opposite Alison Brie. He played former special forces operative Mason Pettis.
