Ride Along

Ride Along, the latest film from director Tim Story, the man behind the movie Think Like A Man is at times both uproariously funny and so utterly predictable it's embarrassing. There is nothing original about this film and if you've ever seen a buddy cop film before, ANY buddy cop film before, then you've seen this one. That's the biggest reason I'm only giving Ride Along one and a half buckets of Killer Korn.











When I walked out of Ride Along, I realized I could have died happy having never seen this movie. It wouldn't have haunted me in the slightest if I never saw it on the big screen, mainly because I had seen this movie already. Ride Along starring Oshea Jackson aka Ice Cube as Det. James Payton and Kevin Hart as Ben Barber is a rehash of every, and I do literally mean EVERY buddy cop movie that's ever come out of Hollywood. The two main films this movie takes, borrows, steals from is the classic Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte vehicle 48 Hours and the seminal and searing film Training Day starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. Now if I wanted to see either one of those films again I could have done it for free since I have them both in my movie collection. I didn't have to pay to see Oshea and Kevin badly re-enact scenes and dialogue from those two films.

I do admit however, and happily that there were some very funny moments in this film, The sad part is that all those funny scenes were all in the trailer. If you've seen the trailer then basically you've seen this films best moments. Oshea is a rogue cop in Atlanta after the unseen and notorious Omar played by Laurence Fishburne with his fellow two officers John Leguizamo who plays Santiago and Bryan Callen playing Miggs. Kevin plays Ben who is in love with James' sister Angela played by the stunning Tika Sumpter. He wants to marry her but must first get the blessing from James who feels Ben isn't man enough to marry his sister and keep her safe. In order to get James' blessing he must go on a ride along and prove himself. Add to that fact that Ben wants to join the police force so badly that he'll pretty much do anything to make that happen and James knows he can make Ben do almost anything he wants. The scenarios are at times both funny and yawn inducing and if you don't see what's coming from around the corner, then you just aren't paying attention.

Ride Along was written by (written by being used loosely) Greg Coolidge, Jason Mantzoukas, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi. I can't imagine how many times those four men have seen Training Day and 48 Hours but I'm sure, while penning this screenplay, those two films were in heavy rotation. The originality was sorely lacking and the dialogue was laughable at best. The people behind this film set out to make a mindless popcorn film and that's exactly what they delivered. It's set up for many more sequels so be on the lookout for a Lethal Weapon like franchise because it's coming. The cinematography by Larry Blandford and the score by Christopher Lennertz was nothing special. They fit the spirit of the film, one that could have been a two hour pilot for TV perfectly. I would wait for this film to hit the DVD shelves rather than spending any money on tickets for it since you probably have it already sitting at home in your movie collection. I''ll see you at the theater.