Ride Along (2014)
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Critics Consensus: Kevin Hart's livewire presence gives Ride Along a shot of necessary energy, but it isn't enough to rescue this would-be comedy from the buddy-cop doldrums.
Critics Consensus: Kevin Hart's livewire presence gives Ride Along a shot of necessary energy, but it isn't enough to rescue this would-be comedy from the buddy-cop doldrums.
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Movie Info
Kevin Hart and Ice Cube lead the lineup in Ride Along, the new film from the director and the producer of the blockbuster comedy Think Like a Man. 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 … More- Rating:
- PG-13 (for sequences of violence, sexual content and brief strong language)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Comedy
- Directed By:
- Tim Story
- Written By:
- Gregory Coolidge , Jason Mantzoukas , Greg Coolidge , Phil Hay , Matt Manfredi
- In Theaters:
- Jan 17, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Apr 15, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $134.1M
Cast
-
Ice Cube
as James -
Kevin Hart
as Ben -
John Leguizamo
as Santiago -
Bruce McGill
as Lt. Brooks -
Tika Sumpter
as Angela Payton -
Bryan Callen
as Miggs
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Critic Reviews for Ride Along
All Critics (122) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (100) | DVD (1)
Nothing in the movie makes sense, but I prefer to think that "Ride Along" is just a badly told joke, rather than an insult to its audience.
Ride Along is saddled with an uninvolving plot, and largely content to coast on cop-movie clichés.
The most truthful answer is friendly but unexciting: They're OK. They're pretty good.
As a comedian [Hart] has been begging for Hollywood's attention for five years. He has it now, but you've got to believe he can do better than this.
This routine buddy picture offers plenty of instant gratification (Cube and Hart are easygoing screen presences, and many of their one-liners are funny) but shows little concern for characterization, storytelling, or even comic pacing.
This is a live-action cartoon.
( ... ) even with four scriptwriters on the case it's still full of the usual stereotypes and lazy, bad-boy clichés - all glued together with a rather bombastic score.
Just because I laughed doesn't mean Ride Along is a good movie.
Director Tim Story puts a competent visual polish on Ride Along, but it's simply not funny or action-packed enough to warrant a recommendation.
How much you enjoy it will depend heavily on how much you enjoy Hart's manic energy and self-deprecating jokes.
What's in the foreground is Kevin Hart's boyish desires and Ice Cube's gruff response. They're the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of bickering.
There are a few laughs, but not enough.
It's a typically absurd, exaggerated spiel but with a grim undertone that resonates later on, so that Ben's desperate efforts to make something of himself seem not entirely a laughing matter.
The paucity of buddy comedies within contemporary multiplexes makes Ride Along's massive failure especially disappointing...
Hey, if you want to see Kevin Hart screeching like a mad-man and late-period Ice Cube gleefully giving shout-outs to his song titles through dialogue (as I often do), this is the place to get it.
An undemanding fun ride, ideal accompaniment to popcorn
Ride Alone is ultimately one joke stretched out into feature length form, and though tedious at times, fortunately for Story, that one joke happens to be a funny one.
The crime plot is lazily predictable, but the comedy is barely any better. Cube plays the straight man to Hart's manic motor mouth, but anyone who isn't already a fan will probably find his comic shtick more irritating than amusing.
An action-comedy short on both action and comedy, this turgid dirge recycles all the usual mismatched cop-couple cliches (from 48 Hours to Cop Out) with dreary results.
Ride Along's fascinating on one level because there's absolutely nothing original about it.
As buddy movies go, this is strictly formulaic fare but it elicits a few laughs along the way thanks to the relentless goofing of Kevin Hart.
... the gags and one-liners just aren't as funny as they need to be.
The inappropriately namedTim Story looks to have grabbed his script from the "plot" section of the service station while racing to a meeting for which he had not properly prepared.
If you're in the mood for some undemanding action entertainment, this routine buddy cop caper offers some cheap laughs.
Ice Cube is a man with two expressions, while Hart has become a ubiquitous presence.
Audience Reviews for Ride Along
2014 may be Kevin Hart's year when it comes to comedy. He has been fantastic. Between "Grudge Match"(which was technically a Dec '13), "About Last Night" and now "Ride Along" the guy is on a tear. He is hilarious, and probably the most consistently funny comedian working today. Even if he plays the same character in all his movies, it's a very funny character. He and Ice Cube play off each other very well, and I'm sure there will be some sequels. Hopefully they will be just as funny, which I'm sure they will be. This is one of the funniest buddy cop movies to come out in a while, that at times is cliched, but Hart makes it work. If you don't like Hart,. then this isn't for you. But if you are a Kevin Hart fan, then I don't know how you can't like this movie. May not be something that will be considered a classic or anything, but definitely still worth a watch for some laughs.
MoreSuper Reviewer
I swear all the funny scenes were in the trailer, it was funny in some scenes but Ice Cube is hit or miss in his methods to be funny or play straight. Kevin Hart was funny in a few scenes but unfortunately whatever energy and enthusiasm he had was not in anything else, probably due to the lack of chemistry between him and Cube and the director most certainly forgot to add any energy or fun to keep it entertaining
MoreSuper Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Propose to this cop's sister? Rookie mistake.
Good comedy! As expected, the film plays out like a typical buddy-cop comedy: a cop teams up with someone he doesn't like or agree with and the two have to attempt to get along. While this basic plot line has indeed been done to death, this film makes the fortunate decision to skip out on many movie clichés. The jokes are delivered on a regular basis and never stray too far into campy or mean-spirited territory. Unlike films like "Identity Thief" and "A Madea Christmas," the tone of the film never strays from a comedic romp and always keeps the laughs coming. "Ride Along," may not go down as a comedic legend, but in my eyes, it is certainly worth checking out at least as a rental. The flawed script can indeed be overlooked by the gleeful dialogue and Kevin Hart's enthusiasm. I'd say give it a shot, it wouldn't hurt to check it out.
Fast-talking security guard Ben joins his cop brother-in-law James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta in order to prove himself worthy of marrying Angela, James' sister.
Super Reviewer
Ride Along Quotes
- Gun Shop Val:
- Hi, James. How you doing?
- James:
- Fine. I gotta train a new booty today.
- Ben:
- I'm the new booty?
- Omar:
- Stop throwing stuff
- Miggs:
- I can't I already pulled it
- James:
- What you doing
- Ben:
- You've got 5 seconds to pick it up and throw it back
- Omar:
- If Omar shoots him then Omar shoot him
- James:
- I'm gonna take you on a ride along.
- Ben:
- Oh hell no!
- James:
- You're white! You're white! You don't fight!
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