For the past two years, high-school security guard Ben has been trying to show decorated APD detective James that he's more than just a video-game junkie who's unworthy of James' sister, Angela. 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.
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Reviews
A strong and skilled cop is forced to work with an unskilled misfit who causes everything to go wrong. This has been done by mainstream Hollywood hundreds of times, this time passing on the torch to Kevin Hart. This is yet another laugh-less comedy with garbage writing from two unfunny actors. This is just a flat-out bad movie.
Ride AlongIf not for Kevin the movie is flat out exhausting, predictable and mundane no matter how much they attempt to project it in a special or unique way.
Ice Cube and Kevin Hart make a great team in this action/comedy/buddy cop genre blend.hart is hilarious here.Cube mostly plays the straight man to Hart's comedic side,though he also has some funny lines lines,as well.John Leguizamo is also very good here,as is Bruce McGill,who I have liked in every film he has been in also liked Tika Sumpter who played the love interest of Kevin Hart's character..the writing is good,the acting is good,the action is well staged and most of the comedic bits work very well.i also found it unpredictable.i was sure I had it figured out a few times,but I was wrong.Tim Story(Fantastic Four and it's sequel Rise of he Silver Surfer)directed the film.there is sequel to this film,which I haven't seen yet,but am looking forward to.
Video game obsessed high school security guard Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) has ambitions on becoming a police officer. When he's accepted in the academy, his girlfriend's brother James Payton (Ice Cube) decides that Ben must partake in a 'Ride Along' with him in order to prove that he is worthy to marry his sister. James initially makes life hell for Ben and deliberately tries to discourage Ben from joining the force. However, when James finds himself in danger it's down to Ben to really show what he's made of....The opening credits for this film are shamelessly (and perhaps knowingly) over the top and ridiculous. The chase sequence at the start looks like it's come from Need For Speed or Burnout and in these sequences it feels like you're watching a mate playing a computer game. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the following scene shows Kevin Hart playing a video game. It's actually quite fun in a dumb way.Ride Along has two strands to its plot; you have the main plot which basically sees Payton attending various 126 situations (which are police codes that they use to wind up rookies). We then have a sub plot involving a Serbian gang that are attempting to buy fire arms. The main plot does provide us with some laughs, but I suspect that how funny you'll find this aspect of the plot will really depend on whether you find Kevin Hart funny or not. I'll admit that he was occasionally funny here, but when watching him I can't help feel that I'm watching a poor man's Chris Tucker (no matter how much I try to shake this thought). I did find that he also got a bit annoying at times. The main plot does start to become a little repetitive and tiresome towards the end, but there are just about enough laughs here to make it tolerable. The sub plot involving the Serbians seems to merely act as a back drop for the majority of the running time till towards the end when the writers decide that it's time to wrap the film up. In some ways it didn't bother me as the sub plot is never as strong as the main plot.One thing that needs to exist in order for these cop-buddy films to work is chemistry between the two leads and to my surprise the chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart was actually pretty good. Ice Cube is not the greatest of actors, but the writers play to his basic strengths by giving him the tough talking 'straight man' role. Likewise, Hart is the crazy one and again the writers play to his strengths by giving him the 'Chris Tucker' type role - sorry I've made the analogy again. Despite some of the annoyances, Ice Cube and Hart do make this film watchable and do make a winning combo. Laurence Fishburne arrives late in the game as the villain of the piece giving Ride Along that little bit extra class.Ride Along is an OK film and is perfectly watchable (albeit Hart does get a little annoying from time to time). However it is just an OK film and is far from the best that the genre has to offer.
