Review of Ride Along (2014) by Jase N — 08 May 2015

Ride Along is one of those movies that when you see a trailer, in the mind of your head, this could be funny. But watching the film, most of the funny parts are in the trailer.

When a fast-talking guy joins his girlfriend's brother-a hot-tempered cop-to patrol the streets of Atlanta, he gets entangled in the officer's latest case. Now, in order to prove that he deserves his future bride, he must survive the most insane 24 hours of his life. For the past two years, high-school security guard Ben (Hart) has been trying to show decorated APD detective James (Cube) that he's more than just a video-game junkie who's unworthy of James' sister, Angela (Tika Sumpter). When Ben finally gets accepted into the academy, he thinks he's earned the seasoned policeman's respect and asks for his blessing to marry Angela. Knowing that a ride along will demonstrate if Ben has what it takes to take care of his sister, James invites him on a shift designed to scare the hell out of the trainee. But when the wild night leads them to the most notorious criminal in the city, James will find that his new partner's rapid-fire mouth is just as dangerous as the bullets speeding at it.

Ride Along is one big sloppy mess of a movie. It devoids anything original and anything funny for the most part. The film is all formula and no substance. And no, the opening credits is not good. However, it is not terrible either. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube have little to no chemistry with each other. Ice Cube's part could have been played by anyone. However, it would not make a difference. Kevin Hart made me chuckle twice or three times but his character come across as annoying. And the rest of the cast except for Laurence Fishburne is no better.

The biggest problem I have with Ride Alone besides it being cliched, predictable, and did not care what happens is that it is not funny at all. Even though I chucked twice or three times, it still was not funny. When I watch this film, it reminded me of Cop Out (which is another film that I hated). They both are similar because they have sloppy direction, unfunny jokes, a predictable plot, and annoying characters.

Speaking of sloppy direction, Tim Story did a terrible job of directing this film. There were some parts of the film that were not shot well at all especially the action scenes. When it comes down to the action scenes, not only they were not shot well but they could have been better than what was shown to me.

There are some positives to the film though. One, like I just mention, I chucked twice or three times because of Kevin Hart as usual. And two, Laurence Fishburne is very good in the film. When he was on screen, I was like thank god he is here.

To conclude my review, Ride Along is a film that no one should. Oh, I forgot everyone saw it and it made a lot of money (oh, the horror). But Dredd does not get a sequel? Anyways!! I really hated this film and there is almost nothing that I like about. There are better male buddy cop films out there that needs to be seen. For example: 21 and 22 Jump Street and Beverly Hills Cop (not the sequels). Unless you like to sit in a chair and not laugh, skip Ride Along and see the films that I just mention.