Starring: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Tika Sumpter, John Leguizamo, Bryan Callen, Bruce McGill, Laurence Fishburne, Jay Pharoah
Directed By: Tim Story
Hey! Guess what? Tim Story directed a movie that doesn’t suck! That’s probably not fair, but the only experience I’ve had with Story as a director is the Fantastic Four series, Taxi, and Barbershop. This is by far his best film. Of course, Kevin hart is an incredibly charismtic leading man, whose talents are just now being tapped. The same thing happened to Chris Rock, and he was put into bland movies like Head Of State and Down To Earth. It’s good to see Hart teaming up with Ice Cube, because his frenetic energy would be too much if the film relied just on him. Hart works best as the sidekick to a straight/serious character.
Ice Cube is basically what you’d expect from him in this role. He’s always been charismatic, even in his tough guy roles. It’d be interesting to see Ride Along as an R rated movie. I bet Cube and Hart could banter for days without restrictions.
This isn’t a groundbreaking piece of work, but it is entertaining. It’s another entry in the buddy cop genre, but that isn’t always a slam dunk (anyone remember The Man with Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy?) . I also think this is a rare film that I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel. Hart as a full fledged cop with some actual training… on his first case? That could be like a male version of The Heat.
I’m a little behind on this, the film is already on DVD/BluRay, but you should catch it.
FINAL GRADE: B+
