Is there anything new to say about the buddy cop movie?
Recent attempts like The Other Guys
and 21 Jump Street brought the laughs
by lampooning the genre and satirizing action movies in general. Ride Along is perfectly happy to coast
on every convention established since 1982's 48 Hrs. Not a surprise since Kevin Hart has long aspired to having
a career like Eddie Murphy and comparisons between the two have been made by
many. Hart is perfectly cast as the fast-talking comedic foil while Ice Cube
steps into the Nick Nolte role as the stern and short-tempered straight man.
Hart is Ben Barber, a high school security guard in Atlanta
who loves playing first person shooting games. He's just proposed to his
beautiful girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter) and been accepted into the police
academy. Ben should be content with his life if not for Angela's other brother
James (Cube). James is a hard-nosed detective who doesn't believe Ben is worthy
of marrying his sister, let alone becoming a police officer. In an effort to
get rid of the little runt, James decides to take his prospective
brother-in-law on a ride along. Ben seems ready to throw in the towel when he's
forced to deal with a biker gang, a mouthy pre-teen, and a lunatic in a
supermarket. Yet, Ben provides improbable help in James's investigation into a
mysterious crime lord known only as Omar.
Just as The Heat
did with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, Ride Along relies almost solely on the chemistry between Ice Cube
and Kevin Hart. Despite featuring four screenwriters in the credits, the script
doesn't bother to do anything clever with a recognizable premise. Their idea of
comedy involves quoting lines from Training
Day and an opening car chase (with Ice Cube driving through a fiery
explosion) appears to have been lifted right out of Other Guys. While director Tim Story has shown a knack for
character-based comedies (Barbershop),
he has a distinct lack of flair for action (Fantastic
Four).
It's left entirely up to the leading stars to keep the
audience's interest intact as the lackluster plot plods along. Hart is a bit
like Chris Tucker with proper restraints. He knows when to play it to the hilt,
but knows the right moments to dial it back. His manic energy is a strong
contrast to the stoic Ice Cube, who ironically portrays the type of cop Cube
railed against in his NWA days. Bruce McGill co-stars as the exasperated
superior that's become a genre requirement along with John Leguizamo and Bryan
Callen as fellow detectives. Laurence Fishburne manages to kick Ride Along up a notch when he makes a
third act appearance as the enigmatic Omar.
Ice Cube struck a nerve when he took to social media to
complain after he and Kevin Hart failed to win the MTV Movie Award for Best
On-Screen Duo. They lost to Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Sorry, but Cube must have
an overinflated opinion of himself. His supporting work in Jump Street was much funnier. As it stands, Ride Along is a pedestrian comedy strictly for fans of Cube and
Hart.
Rating: ** (*****)
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