A Ride With Barely Any Gas

Damian Gordon

Staff Writer

     The highly anticipated film Ride Along has finally hit theaters with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube together on screen for the first time. The story centers on Ben Barber (Hart) a small time security guard, who joins police officer James Payton (Cube), on a patrol of Atlanta to prove that he is worthy of marrying his sister. After watching the movie, it’s obvious that they should have replaced the ”ride“ with ”drag” in the title.

     The first half of the movie has Hart throwing line after line of jokes; that often miss their mark. Truthfully, it is just a platform for Kevin Hart…to play Kevin Hart. Luckily, other stars make an appearance in the supporting cast such as comedians Gary Owens, Jay Pharoah and rapper David Banner. They provide some memorable highlights, like a naked man covered in honey wrestling in a supermarket. Enough said.

     Ice Cube does not do much besides stand there, and scowl at Kevin Hart’s antics. There is a cringe worthy moment in the movie where Cube says, “Today was a good day”, a reference to his hit 90’s song. It would have been no surprise if Ice Cube took a mic out, then just rapped the rest of his record afterward.

     There is an interesting subplot involving James looking to takedown a crime kingpin called Omar. The story picks up halfway with a hilarious scene involving Kevin Hart and a shotgun. The chuckles turn into laughs as Hart slips in his comfort zone with psychical comedy.

     Cube plays the straight man throughout the film to Hart’s over-the-top performance, but their chemistry falls flat. Both actors felt as if they were in different movies or even reading different scripts. Chemistry is what carries these buddy cop films like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys.

     Laurence Fishburn pokes his head in to play the villainous Omar, giving a sense of danger for the two heroes throughout the film. There is a chilling aura as Fishburn commands the screen with the little time he has on it. Expect anyone named thug one and two not make it to the end of the story.

     Ride Along does overstay its welcome, like a buddy’s stay on your couch for the night turning into months. Clocking in at 100 minutes, the film moves at a fast pace, yet feels like it is going nowhere even quicker. A saving grace is that Hart’s improvisation skills are the real star, especially since his costars look like they are about to break character by laughing along with the viewers.

     Ride Along is an entertaining movie for the most part, filled with bad sections that drag along at times. All of the films funniest scenes are in the trailer, which is disappointing considering it had so much promise. (Some of you) might want to miss this ride and wait until it comes to Netflix or television.