Ride Along by Wilson Morales
We’ve seen plenty of buddy films over the years, and there have been plenty that has worked from ’48 Hours,’ ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘Bad Boys.’ Now we have ‘Ride Along,’ which is directed by Tim Story and stars today’s top comedian Kevin Hart teaming up with Ice Cube, in his first lead role in years. While this action-comedy cop film has a few laughs, there’s no originality or highlights to place it among the top 50 of its genre. There’s something when Hart needs several writers to come up with jokes for him and it doesn’t work.
Set in Atlanta, Cube plays Detective James Payton, who’s reluctant to let case involving smugglers go. Then’s there Ben Barber (Hart), a security guard who happens to be dating James’ sister Angela (Tika Sumpter). Ben wants to upgrade his career and joins the Police Academy and to get better acquainted and worthy of his approval, James decides to take him on a ride along.
When Ben figures out that James and his colleagues (John Leguizamo, Bryan Callen) are having a laugh at his expense, he decided to flip the tables and show them that he’s worthy of becoming one of them and joining the Payton household. In the middle of all this, the both of them get snared in one of James’ current cases that puts all of their lives in danger.
What you have here is a combo of “Lethal Weapon” meets “Rush Hour” where Hart and Cube have good chemistry but failed to ignite for several periods within the film. It shouldn’t take four screenwriters to write some funny lines for Hart. The guy is a talent and his jokes here doesn’t have any natural feel to it. It’s like the audience is seeing some guy pass out notes to a comedian while he’s doing standup. From the cliche car chase to a predictable ending, there’s nothing of substance to take away from ‘Ride Along.’ While he was the best thing in ‘Think Like A Man,’ Hart seems like he’s overdoing it to get a laugh because Cube is playing the straight and narrow individual. While there’s a surprise cast member in the film that may spark a level of interest, it also makes you wonder why that person wasn’t in the mix from the beginning.
If you’re looking for mindless fun, then this is the film that will take you there. Hart certainly goes big to draw a chuckle or two from the audience, but Cube’s blandness doesn’t help the film from being your average comedy caper.
