[Review] Ride Along

With the names of Kevin Hart and Ice Cube headlining a buddy cop comedy, you'd think Ride Along would at least be a lot more fun and funnier than it turns out to be. Aside from the well-timed musical choice of Busta Rhymes' "Look At Me Now" verse amidst an opening action sequence and Ice Cube's angry line about a Prius, the laughs are few and far between.

Ben (Kevin Hart), a puny motormouth, gets accepted to the police academy and plans to propose to his girlfriend, Angela (Tika Sumpter). But Angela's brother James (Ice Cube), a hardened APD detective isn't having it. In order to gain respect, Ben has to complete a ride along with James to prove he can be a worthy policeman and a caring spouse to Angela. The mission gets out-of-hand as Ben and James find themselves facing a Serbian mob and an elusive arms dealer.

Unfortunately, the film vapidly plays out like a buddy cop movie check list, and despite Kevin Hart's spirited antics, there aren't many noteworthy lines of humor, and the slapstick attempts are eye-rolling for the most part. Ride Along ranks low among the recent crop of buddy cop comedies, never reaching the clever heights of The Other Guys or the boldness of The Heat. It isn't even in the Cop Out  'so-dumb-it's-funny' vein.

The Training Day references just aren't enough to save this one.

4/10