Ricky 1 Review · 4:16pm Apr 2nd, 2020
We're taking a step into obscurity territory, with a 'parody' from the late 80s. Ricky 1. ... Never heard of it before? Well if you hadn't seen the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of it, you've heard of it now. This is the only movie that I know is a full spoof on Rocky. There were some spoofs of it in Hot Shots Part Deux, and of course, there's always comedy sketches on TV (maybe on SNL possibly?) so yeah, honestly it sounded like a good idea.
However, with parody, there comes a certain art or rule. The point of a spoof is to take cliches of a genre and put a funny spin on them. Movies like Spaceballs and Hot Shots work because they're making fun of the genres they're spoofing; Spaceballs was mainly a satire of Star Wars, but because it was Sci-Fi, it also included spoofs of Star Trek and Planet of the Apes. Hot Shots also works cause, well in two ways. The first Hot Shots was a parody of Top Gun, while the second one was mainly a Rambo spoof with inclusion of Rocky, Star Wars, Predator, and other action films. So with this movie being an older movie in a time-frame when parodies were allowed to be funny and thoughtful before Seltzerberg decided to slaughter the parody genre in theaters, this has got to be good, right?
WRONG.
Now okay, I'll admit, I'm not asking for high class or anything, hell I don't expect high class from any movie I see, I just want to watch and enjoy a movie. But this movie... Ooooh boy. This is Ricky 1.
Ricky 1 is basically a parody of Rocky. ... And that's it. That's all I have. There is no plot outside of that!
And oooh boy, this is hard. I'll be honest guys, I tried, I honest to god tried to find something good, something salvageable in this. Even some of the absolute worst movies out there have at least one or two things that are good! And I can honestly say, for every movie that I find bad, I still can find something good in them!
... There is almost NOTHING good about this movie. The only credit I can give is maybe one or two jokes that actually made me slightly chuckle, but that's it, chuckle!
Oh and the last act of the movie is when it finally starts to feel like Rocky. We do get a silly training montage that's supposed to parody Rocky's training, but it's just a bunch of cheap gags like the rest of the film; fall through the floor gag, running backwards with pants around his ankles, bad erection jokes, yada yada yada. They do throw in a character that's supposed to resemble Mickey, but he gives nothing! You have the opportunity to make fun of his wiseass remarks, and you don't even do that. They just slap a cap on 'em, and that's it.
And let me tell you, I cannot find anything else. Why is that? Well lemme explain...
First off, I'm just getting this out of the way, the acting is awful. No one is convincing, they're either not trying, or phoning it in, that's it. And clearly by how little this film was seen, it's no wonder we haven't seen or heard any of these people.
This movie has no budget. Maybe it's cause of the VHS recording that I was watching, but the lighting is so god awful, I swear it looks like it was made in the 60s, not 1989. And okay, so budget's not real great, you can still make a good movie. ... Guess what, apparently they didn't get the memo. Hell in the opening, you can tell in the opening they have no budget. The fighting ring is so small, you could swear they just filmed it in some warehouse or somethin' with only a handful of extras. And why do the crowds look so bored? You're watching a boxing match!
Be excited, dammit! There's even a scene that shows it's clearly like the sun is about to set, and then it just cuts to another shot which shows a clearly different lighting! What happened?
But honestly, the biggest issue with this movie is that 95% of the time... there is almost, absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing that has to do with Rocky! There are so many random scenes cobbled together that don't fit or belong, they feel out of place, and most of them contribute absolutely nothing to the story! This feels like the very first 'parody' that was made by Seltzerberg. And that is NOT a compliment. Lemme give a few examples.
In one of the flashbacks, it's explained Ricky is a male stripper which has absolutely nothing to do with anything. ... And why does he have a horse head!?
There's a bunch of random scenes that take place at Ricky's love interest's crisis center. And in one scene, completely with no reason, there's this random moment of showing off an exploding doormat... wa... First off, wouldn't burglars find alternative means of getting into the house? And adding to that; what if it's not a burglar? What if it's just a mailman or neighbor coming to the door, hell what if you're just bringing someone inside and you step on it? Death by doormat, reads the headlines!
Or how about a random moment of characters called Dr. Foreskin and Officer Boner. ... Ha. Ha.
Oh Hitler makes a cameo. Why? ... Don't know. He's just there.
Or the random individual laying dynamite around... what?
Or how about when the announcer declares they're bobbing and weaving... Ricky is literally bobbing for apples, and this 'Champ' is weaving a basket. ... Ha. Ha. Ha. So clever. 
Or how about this?
"Another hook! Another cross! Anoo... Star of David?"
Literally in that scene, they throw in a hook, a cross, and a Star Of David. ...
And then there's a judge talking with his hand and wearing a gas mask! I don't get it, what's the joke!?
Actually the only piece in this entire movie that came close to being funny, at least to me, was a small sketch that was spoofing The Godfather. This was one of the only moments that came close to being funny.
I... I am trying really hard to think of anything I can say here, this movie is almost nothing! So many random scenes that don't have anything to do with Ricky or boxing, it's hard to comprehend. And yes I know everything's a massive mess for this review, but guess what, this whole film's a mess in general.
Honestly this movie's like all the way down, bottom of the barrel. Ya got no plot, ya got no comedy, you don't even got a budget. So yeah, I'd like to call this the early Seltzerberg film, cause that's what it is. Barely anything to do with the source material, a bunch of cheap gags thrown in without any rhyme or reason, and it's just not a good movie. Maybe if this movie will be funny if you're reaaaaaly on the good stuff, like reaaaaly stoned. Honestly, it makes sense this movie didn't go anywhere, and for good reason.
Ricky 1 gets a very clear 1 out of 10. Just... wow, this was bad.
Now if you'll excuse me... I got some walking to do.
Parody *is* about putting a humorous spin on the original work, I agree. Though it can be for a variety of purposes - it can be done affectionately, paying tribute as much as it does mock the original (like say, Young Frankenstein to the original Universal Frankenstein movies); it can be in a way that highlights flaws or problems in the original, deconstructing it (think of Scream, which has the characters be aware of the clichés of the slasher genre, and comment on them - in fact, the movie was made originally as a way to "kill" the slasher genre as the director felt it couldn't be taken seriously anymore).
Satire is *like* parody, but is not *always* the same as parody. Satire is done for the purpose of making an intellectual point. Satire can be good-natured in tone as it points out the flaw in its target (which is called "Horatian" satire by intellectual types) or meanspirited and sarcastic, viciously attacking the target without remorse ("Juvenalian," from which we get the word "juvenile"). GTA V is an example of Juvenalian satire, as it rips pretty much everything about modern American life. Monty Python's Life of Brian is more Horatian, as it spoofs a lot about Christianity, but is fairly gentle in its criticisms compared to other satirical treatments of the church.
Sorry for the lesson, I admit I was feeling in a bit of a scholastic mood when I checked this out.
Sounds to me like this movie is something that bills itself as parody without putting in even a minimum of the required effort. Which is just disgraceful. Sorry that you had to suffer through this, Four. DX