Why I Saw It: There was nothing else in theaters I wanted to see. March can't come quickly enough.
Cast: I can't remember the last time when the supporting characters were the leads. Kevin Hart and Regina Hall absolutely dominate the movie. Any theories I had about the best way to use Hart after seeing Ride Along were confirmed here. He is best when the narrative weight is not put upon him and he can deliver joke after joke. Hall is similar in that she doesn't navigate the straight roles as well. They are clearly the biggest stars of the movie. Michael Ealy and Joy Bryant are technically the leads but that's just because they drive the plot. Mostly, they just bicker and are unpleasant. That's not the actors' faults. All the creativity went into writing for Hart and Hall. Oh, and don't let me forget the laughably bad performance by Paula Patton who I believe the director told to "act drunk" with no other context. She's better than that.
Plot: It's a standard "relationships sure are hard" story of boy meets girl, boy and girl start dating, boy and girl move in together, boy and girl break up, boy and girl get back together". Sorry if I ruined the movie for you. It hits every beat you'd expect from a dog as a surrogate baby to who says "I love you" first. I respect that it goes for the R rating but this really should've been PG-13 if it was going to stick so closely to formula.
Elephant in the Room: So, is Kevin Hart here to stay? I like Kevin Hart in general. He's worked himself into a good situation where he can be the lead or ensemble player and has ties to a number of different comedy clicks, including the all-important Judd Apatow clique. He is riding about as high as anyone in comedy right now and there's whispers of the name Eddie Murphy. He needs a Beverly Hills Cop before that happens (although Ride Along is certainly his 48 hrs.) though. I see the wave crashing for him softly and gradually. In short, he'll be with us for a while if he keeps churning out great character roles like this.
To Sum Things Up:
The only damning thing I have to say about this is that it's derivative, which is to be expected for a remake. It is a solid date night kind of movie with a charming cast. Despite it's black cast it has a wide appeal which it really how it should be. It's not looking to be something it's not. Sometimes what you expect is both what you get and what you want in the first place.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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