Ricky (DVD Review)

2 Apr, 2013 By: Ashley Ratcliff

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Street 4/2/13
Green Apple
Comedy
$19.98 DVD
Not rated.
Stars Matt Markey, Sabrina Bolin, Jessica Manuel.

Why in the world would someone as high maintenance and attractive as Tracy be seen in public with a frugal, average Joe like Ricky McDown, let alone date him? That question surely will arise within moments when watching romantic comedy Ricky. 

You can’t fault struggling actor Ricky for trying, but he has to know that Tracy is out of his league. I mean, the guy thinks he’s Rocky Balboa and that cheap wine in plastic cups equals a romantic date. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for Tracy to end things with the hopeless sap.

Like Rocky, Ricky (Matt Markey) has some fight in him, and relentlessly pursues Tracy (Jessica Manuel), hoping to win her back. Between striking out with her and bombing auditions, Ricky can’t catch a break. You want to feel sorry for him, but his cluelessness and desperate antics just come off as annoying.

Ricky tries hard to get Tracy’s attention. He even seeks the help of his cute, dependable boxing-gym buddy, Janie (Sabrina Bolin), to help him improve socially (essentially change who he is). It’s obvious that she and Ricky belong together — a reality that’s lost on the disillusioned guy.

That Tracy would even date Ricky begins to make sense when it’s revealed she was using him as a pawn in her snobby friends’ sick game of breaking unassuming hearts. Ultimately, Ricky learns that Tracy’s arrogant friend, Brad, is really her soon-to-be fiancé and that she’s strung him along all this time. Ricky stages a confrontation that makes him look even more foolish, but the payoff comes when Janie sees him at his bravest.

Ricky garners most of its laughs from the razzing between Ricky and his almost-cool friends. In all, it’s a short and sweet film that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

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