Ride Along

When you think of Ice Cube you think of the hardcore rapper from NWA, the gangster persona, not complex actor. Yet since becoming an actor Ice Cube; real name (O'Shea Jackson), has developed himself into quite the character actor. The comedic prescence of Kevin Hart and this budding police comedy brings the movie full tilt. There is a great story line that suggests looking for comfort and approval betweent Hart's character and Cube's. There are hilarious comments throughout the film and the writing was quite original. This is a great movie with strength in the plot, the characters and just fun throughout. There is no doubt I would highly recommend this to everyone. Kevin Hart is becoming the fast uprising comedic actor of late.

Video game obsessed high school security guard Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) has ambitions on becoming a police officer. When he's accepted in the academy, his girlfriend's brother James Payton (Ice Cube) decides that Ben must partake in a 'Ride Along' with him in order to prove that he is worthy to marry his sister. James initially makes life hell for Ben and deliberately tries to discourage Ben from joining the force. However, when James finds himself in danger it's down to Ben to really show what he's made of....

The opening credits for this film are shamelessly (and perhaps knowingly) over the top and ridiculous. The chase sequence at the start looks like it's come from Need For Speed or Burnout and in these sequences it feels like you're watching a mate playing a computer game. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the following scene shows Kevin Hart playing a video game. It's actually quite fun in a dumb way.

Ride Along has two strands to its plot; you have the main plot which basically sees Payton attending various 126 situations (which are police codes that they use to wind up rookies). We then have a sub plot involving a Serbian gang that are attempting to buy fire arms. The main plot does provide us with some laughs, but I suspect that how funny you'll find this aspect of the plot will really depend on whether you find Kevin Hart funny or not. I'll admit that he was occasionally funny here, but when watching him I can't help feel that I'm watching a poor man's Chris Tucker (no matter how much I try to shake this thought). I did find that he also got a bit annoying at times. The main plot does start to become a little repetitive and tiresome towards the end, but there are just about enough laughs here to make it tolerable. The sub plot involving the Serbians seems to merely act as a back drop for the majority of the running time till towards the end when the writers decide that it's time to wrap the film up. In some ways it didn't bother me as the sub plot is never as strong as the main plot.

One thing that needs to exist in order for these cop-buddy films to work is chemistry between the two leads and to my surprise the chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart was actually pretty good. Ice Cube is not the greatest of actors, but the writers play to his basic strengths by giving him the tough talking 'straight man' role. Likewise, Hart is the crazy one and again the writers play to his strengths by giving him the 'Chris Tucker' type role - sorry I've made the analogy again. Despite some of the annoyances, Ice Cube and Hart do make this film watchable and do make a winning combo. Laurence Fishburne arrives late in the game as the villain of the piece giving Ride Along that little bit extra class.

Ride Along is an OK film and is perfectly watchable (albeit Hart does get a little annoying from time to time). However it is just an OK film and is far from the best that the genre has to offer.

I love Kevin Hart don't get me wrong. His stand up is hilarious and I also love Ice Cube's movies AND the two of them have great chemistry on screen and all but....it wasn't that funny. This movie had its' funny parts but the problem is most of them you already saw on the preview. This won't go on my list of funniest movies I've ever seen but it had decent action and decent humor. It had a little twist toward the end but thinking of the premise movies like Meet the Parents were funnier or Twenty one jump street or The Heat but what can I say it was filmed well and the two of them together provided enough entertainment so the film is worth a watch.

Fresh off of his hit stand-up comedy film, "Let Me Explain," Kevin Hart returns to the big screen with "Ride Along." While it may be far from the most memorable comedy, I can't help but admit I enjoyed sitting through it.

Kevin Hart plays Ben, an eccentric man who wants to marry the love of his life, Angela (played by Tika Sumpter). Before he does, he seeks to get the blessing of her brother James (played by Ice Cube), a tough, loose cannon cop. In order to prove he's worthy of marrying James' sister, Ben must join James on a day on his job as an officer. Eventually, the two get wrapped up in a case neither of them were expecting.

As expected, the film plays out like a typical buddy-cop comedy: a cop teams up with someone he doesn't like or agree with and the two have to attempt to get along. While this basic plot line has indeed been done to death, this film makes the fortunate decision to skip out on many movie clichés. There is no third-act-breakup, no mopey montage, and no "you're off the case" or "you're fired" scene. While a lack of these clichés does hamper the conflict, it is quite refreshing to see them absent from the film. On the other hand, the script lends itself to other flaws. Several scenes seem to be included for the sole purpose of filling time (such as a random cameo by Jacob Latimore that amounts to nothing). Moreover, the story can be very predictable at time, even with a couple of random and nonsensical plot twists thrown in. Still though, there is a lot of good to this film.

The dialogue, while far from quotable, is consistently funny and is almost guaranteed to keep the theater laughing. The jokes are delivered on a regular basis and never stray too far into campy or mean-spirited territory. Unlike films like "Identity Thief" and "A Madea Christmas," the tone of the film never strays from a comedic romp and always keeps the laughs coming.

Kevin Hart's performance itself is arguably worth the price of admission. Hart's lines are delivered with the impression that he is enjoying making this movie, and his high-energy presence is sure to please his fans. If you are a fan of Kevin Hart, you will most likely enjoy his screen-presence and his great chemistry with Ice Cube even if you find the script to be lacking.

"Ride Along," may not go down as a comedic legend, but in my eyes, it is certainly worth checking out at least as a rental. The flawed script can indeed be overlooked by the gleeful dialogue and Kevin Hart's enthusiasm. I'd say give it a shot, it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

Kevin Hart and Ice Cube carry this film. Nothing too out of the ordinary and quite predictable, I had a feeling some cops would end up being dirty and Kevin's character would come to the rescue. Overall though an easy and kind of fun action flick to follow.