Ride Along

Ride Along with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube isn't reinventing the game but Hart is hilarious and worth the watch.

Ben is trying to win over his girlfriend's brother James, so James invites him on a 24 hour Ride Along patrol. Ben thinks it's to get to know him but James is really trying to scare him away.

Technically speaking the plot is about how Ben interferes while James tries to capture a leader of a crime syndicate Omar while on the ride along. Really the ride along is just excuse for insane situations to occur within that setting.

Long term this movie will probably be pretty forgettable. As a comedy it is consistently funny and reminiscent of old school improv riffs with the antagonizing eccentric and the straight man. Kevin Hart gets to be absolutely ridiculous, per the usual as Ben: running his mouth, acting a fool, letting self deprecating jokes happen at his expense. I'm a huge fan of the character Kevin Hart has created – while it is the same in every movie it is enjoyable in every movie. Ice Cube is a good polarity as James to Hart's Ben. His smile muscles might be broken. At times he might even be too serious detracting from the chemistry of the duo.

The situations these temporary partners get into are random and feel like filler but are funny comedy routines and I'm glad they are still in the film. In an ideal world the writers would've cleaned up the script for a more believable story. Despite this Ride Along is definitely worth the rental just for Hart's antics.

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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.

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.

The idea of doing a comic take on the serious drama "Training Day" may sound strange at first, but they say there are no bad ideas, just bad execution of ideas. While "Ride Along" isn't a bad comedy, at its best it is just mildly amusing. I think a big reason why it isn't funnier than it is is due to the screenplay being very predictable. Once you know the premise of the movie, you can pretty much predict what is going to happen some time before it actually does. The screenplay (written by FOUR screenwriters!) should have been wilder in both its humor and with the plot. But as I said, there are still some amusing moments here and there. What really does keep the movie afloat are the performances by the two leads, Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. They both give very appealing performances and show that they are up to the challenge of whatever the screenplay and direction could throw at them. It's a pity, though, that they weren't given much material that was more biting in nature.

No matter how popular this film becomes at the box office, Kevin Hart no longer has to prove himself as being worthy of a lead star. His comedic timing and graceful style more than prove that in Ride Along. The trouble is that the film itself is so lacking in almost any originality or intelligence that he would have had to do a lot in order to show himself worse than the movie.

Playing the comic relief in a pale yet obvious retread of 48 Hrs. and Training Day, Hart fully utilizes his short stature and body language to his strength. Being rather short, indeed shorter than his female co-star Tika Sumpter, Hart compensates by playing a man-child with a large inferiority complex. Constantly attempting to prove himself capable of something of value, he still cannot help but invoke his knowledge of childish things, mainly video games. He also cries in terror, jumps into his brother-in-law's arms and looks for acceptance at every turn. He is, in fact, a fully-grown imp. What is astonishing about him is how he uses this to carry the movie along. Scene after scene drags along with the obligatory sense of having been done countless times beforehand but it is Hart's sentimentality that shines beyond the dull narrative. Though his facial expressions are often overwrought, he is still capable of carrying scenes purely through his timing and understanding of comic development. At times, he sounds like he is improvising a stand-up bit. Other times, he seems to invoke the speed-demon, whirlish style of Eddie Murphy. No matter his tactic, he makes it count despite a lack of support.

Making things more frozen than necessary is Ice Cube, scrunching up his face in attempting to portray a hard-ass of a cop; one of those lone, righteous moralists who is willing to go against any and all authority in order to prove himself as being right all along about his case. Of course he is, but what is confusing is how the film seems to condemn his behavior as a loner, yet justifies his actions during the course of the story. It is never clear which side the movie falls on and it most likely does not matter. Truthfully, none of the characters or plot points seem necessary at all except to showcase the difference between Hart's ambitious high-school security guard trying to become an Atlanta policeman and Ice Cube's tough-as-nails detective on the hunt for the most ferocious kingpin in the city, so terrifying and imposing that no one has ever seen his face (You will guess who it is right away; the opening credits give it away).

The biggest fault in the screenplay is its lack of developing the relationship between the two key characters: Ice Cube and his sister. Supposedly, they are very close due to being raised in foster homes, leading to him playing over-protective daddy to her. The trouble is the writers never give them a scene for themselves. What kind of relationship did they have or have now? And how has it changed as they have gotten older? And, furthermore, what is Ice Cube's personal life? Does he have one? Clearly, these were not on the writers' or director's mind. The final priority seems to have been only to ensure Kevin Hart came out looking like a fine-bred, comedic leading man for years to come. In this, the movie has succeeded. However, the makers of the movie should not pat themselves on the back. Save that for Mr. Hart himself, the only saving grace in this entire tired, formulaic story.