Why I Saw It: You'll notice, I rarely see movies this long after a nationwide release. I think my last one was Side Effects which was the same time of year. Basically, there's nothing else of interest that I haven't seen, so I went for the highest grosser.
Cast: This is hardly an ensemble. It's Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Tkia Sumpter, John Leguizamo, Bruce McGill and others round the cast out, but not even their families are seeing this for them. Kevin Hart is one of the hottest actors right now. He's everywhere and dominates ads for movies he isn't even the star of (see Grudge Match, About Last Night). I like him here. He plays this extremely broad though. He's loud. He's physical. He's in your face. He's Kevin Hart. I don't think his fans will be disappointed with what they get. Ice Cube is built for a part like this, in that he is physically imposing but not in a gym-rat way and he can deliver a lot of anger without raising his voice. My only issue with him is that I sense he thinks he has a tougher image than he does. Boyz n da Hood Ice is frightening. That dude is not far removed from the streets. This Ice Cube has been a millionaire for two decades, starred in family films, and is in his 40s. I would've liked if he'd taken some cues from De Niro in Meet the Parents.
Plot: Let's say the marketing clearly expressed this. Cube is a tough cop. His sister is dating Hart who wants to become a cop. Cube takes Hart on a ride along for the day. As you can imagine, things just happen to escalate on that day with an investigation of Cube's. It's not an insult to same this is a familiar plot. There are no surprises. So what? A buddy cop movie is all about execution. I can't compliment the writing. It is not tight at all. There's numerous logical jumps to make the plot work. Even the spacing in scenes is sloppy*. The movie repeatedly chooses the easy choice over the one fitting the characters. I found it very frustrating.
*Seriously, there's a scene in which a bad guy has a hostage who he has three feet away from him without the gun pointed at her while Cube is 10 feet away and it is established that he is an excellent shot. Shoot him!!!
Elephant in the Room: Is it funny though? Eh, parts are funny. It's sold as a comedy first. It is clear that they want the action scenes to be legit as well and in general, it gets caught up in being an action movie more than it should. The straight man/funny man dynamic is rigidly adhered to. I kept hoping for Cube to churn out a few jokes and it doesn't really happen. Hart carries the comedic weight of this and it was like watching the Academy Awards when Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosted: when Hart is the only one trying to be funny, only the best jokes connect. In The Heat, the most recent, direct comparison, a lot of jokes worked in the theater because of pile on effect. The momentum of a good joke causes subsequent ones that couldn't stand on their own to work. There wasn't much of that here.
To Sum Things Up:
I've gotta find a way to stay more positive in these. This is a funny, formulaic comedy. Often, you aren't looking for something that reinvents the wheel. Sometimes, you just need a wagon that can get you to the fair. Pardon the near pun, but Ride Along will get you to that fair. It has two capable leads who deliver exactly what fans of them want. I won't be carrying this with me in my memory very long or anything. Two weeks in, if you still haven't seen it, probably don't. I don't see this appealing beyond its core audience (and no, I don't mean black people only).
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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