Review of Ride Along (2014) by Parisa H — 08 May 2016

You have got to give the world's funniest man alive award to Kevin Hart playing Ben, a security guard, in Ride Along. In this action, comedy film, Ben, a short motor-mouth, joins his girlfriend's brother, James (Ice Cube), a short-tempered cop, to prove to him that he is worthy to marry his sister, Angela (Tika Sumpter); but here is the catch, the only thing that Ben knows about being a detective is from video games like Call of Duty. "You've got one day and one day only to show me what you got," James tells him. Ultimately, the plot gets twisted when Ben thinks the case is not real, so he did not take anything of it seriously which adds a turn to the movie.

Within one hour and thirty-nine minutes, Ben manages to gives the movie a boost of energy mixed with the determined attitude of James that balances out each other. Imagine Rush Hour with Hart playing as Ronnie Shields in Role Models; that pretty much sums up the entire movie in your head. The director, Tim Story, who also directed Ice Cube in Barbershop and Hart in Think Like A Man, knows his characters strengths and weaknesses. One of Hart's greatest advantages is his nonstop loudmouth, and Mr. Story gave him plenty of opportunities to use his assets in a humorous way.

This PG-13 movie targets an audience of younger adults due to Hart's stand-up comedy. If this story was to be lowered down to just story, relationship, or logic, then it would not be half as good, but for Hart, the fewer plots, the better. He does his own thing as a standup comedian and builds his own story which makes this movie funny. This is a cliché cop movie having a short, funny character with a tall, tough character not liking each other, but slowly bonding as they go after a major mob boss; this is how the movie got the name Ride Along. There is not a moment of surprise in some scenes. The second Ben picks up a shotgun at a shooting range, for example, you know the kick will blast him to the back wall and you know James will react with a groan.

Overall, Ride Along is a tremendous movie. Hart displays something else in his personality other than humor. He seems to be a sensitive and affectionate person; the presence of this quality gives body by adding a sentimental factor. On the other hand, Ice Cube reminds us of a fine, dramatic character just like Dwayne Johnson playing Hobbs in Fast and Furious 6. The comedy and self-awareness is truly what makes this movie worth watching.