An excerpt from my script review for Ricky Stanicky which will be available 09/09/24:
3.) Quality of Characters
Giving an audience “original” character connections.
In the script there’s this tired “love triangle” between Ted, his girlfriend Erin, and Rod.
It’s unclear whether Rod is actually a good guy just wanting a way out via Ricky, or a creep who’s actually trying to steal Erin away from Ted.
All of this is gone in the film which works so much better.
There, Rod/Ricky falls for Carly, Erin’s cousin, and he’s with her the rest of the way. It’s endearing because Carly isn’t someone the rest of the characters find attractive, but Ricky “allegedly” sees the real person inside.
(It’s something we have to take him at his word on, since I don’t think we’re ever really given proof.)
This allowed a clearer understanding that Rod did want to become a better person and it still allows for friction with Ted and JT because they only hired him for the single gig at the bris, which in the script is a birthday party…I think.
(The bris is funnier!)
That works so much better and plays against our expectations because we’ve seen that sort of love triangle (real or assumed) multiple times before.
The other connection that was dropped was making Erin the daughter of Ted’s boss, Mr. Lambert.
Having characters be connected is fine, but again, the film dropping this particular connection felt refreshing.
Ted wants to succeed at his job, not to prove himself to Erin like the script mentions, but because he simply wants to be good at his job.
That’s not criminal or unheard of.
Lastly, and where I think the film went overboard, was on the DEI aspect of the supporting cast.
I know this is a hot button issue for extreme ends of both political parties, and I understand diversity, equality, and inclusion is important, but for a film or TV show not to the point that it distracts from the story.
And boy did Amazon shoehorn in a lot of actors to be inclusive.
Bill Burr, on his podcast, recently bitched about how all these companies use interracial couples as a way to virtue signal by selling us products we don’t need or are horrible for us.
That’s what this kind of felt like.
Inclusivity for the sake of inclusivity won’t be enough move a plot forward or attract an audience.
(Just ask Disney about all the money they lost on The Acolyte.)
Most of the cast wasn’t an issue, until we get to the end and meet the owners of the other company Summerhayes was trying to merge with, then it makes you realize they’re doing this on purpose.
One of them is a dwarf I can almost guarantee was hired because he resembles Peter Dinklage in passing.
But this actor talks and “acts” in such an annoying way that it was too distracting.
Tyrion Lannister he was not.
There’s a reason Peter Dinklage came to hate Game of Thrones, even wanting it to end, because we fucking loved him in it and couldn’t get enough.
Not because he was a dwarf, but because he was a great fucking actor.
So remember, it’s okay to want to include different people from various backgrounds and walks of life, but they must support a strong story and narrative.
Without that that bit, no one is going to stick with your script.
(For examples of including folks and delivering a strong narrative, check out The Boys or Gen V.)
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