Ride Along

Hart plays Ben, a fast talking high school security guard that aspires to be a cop and to propose to his girlfriend Angela. When he gets accepted into the police academy, he tells Angela’s disapproving brother James, and he decides to take Ben on a ride along through the city to mess with him and break his spirit, all while searching for a notorious gangster.

There was a time when I wouldn’t care to see Kevin Hart to play lead in a comedy movie.  As his stand up said boldly, “you gon’ learn today”, I certainly learned that night.  We begin this movie learning that Kevin Hart is a video gamer (and who can’t relate to that?) who seeks to marry his girlfriend (who is a gamer chick).  We then learn that Ice Cube is the hard-nosed, disapproving big brother.

Kevin Hart keeps getting funnier and funnier, with his movies becoming more enjoyable.  Ever since Laugh At My Pain (2011), Hart seems to understand himself more as a comic actor these days.  He uses his physical faults like cracking jokes on his own “height deficiency”, while including camera angles to capitalize for full potential.  We find our hero staring up at a lot of his troublesome foes, which only adds to the hilarity of a fellow who might be in over his head aspiring to be a police officer soon.

Ice Cube is a perfect foil for Kevin Hart. In this film we see Ice Cube at what he’s originally know for; being the cold but well intentioned competent asshole.  Tika Sumpter hasn’t been around for as long as the others, but she was great in this movie, for what entailed for her.  The story involves a mysterious and notorious Atlanta gangster, and the fierce cameo appearance will be an amusing surprise.

As I mentioned, the story takes place in Atlanta Georgia, downtown.  Atlanta natives, as well as those who adore the city, will love how they use actual streets and neighborhoods, with the Atlanta’s skyline used for location identification shots.  If you are anything like me, you might be tired of every movie on the planet taking place in either New York or Los Angeles.  So yeah, this movie shows ATL much love.

This is a buddy-cop movie by way of comedy.  While the concept of this movie hasn’t been done before, buddy-cop movies have, so there will be a lot of familiar buddy-cop tropes taking place.  The storyline isn’t that complex, but then again it doesn’t need to be.  There’s a quick bonus scene during the credits, so maybe you’d like to watch the credits roll to see it.

As a comedy movie featuring a man who is determined to marry his wife, Ride Along remains very date-bringable.  I highly recommend the movie for a good night out with the lady, or if you are a fan of the actors or the genre.  As I once thought Kevin Hart too weak to play lead in a movie, I certainly learned that night, finding myself ready to see more.

The Rating: 7/10