Film review: Ride Along

Ride Along is no different from your average buddy-cop comedy, and that’s OK. It’s a blueprint we’ve come to rely on for nearly 20 years.

Ice Cube, left, and Kevin Hart in Ride Along. AP Photo / Universal Pictures

Ride Along

Director: Tim Story

Starring: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter, John Leguizamo

***

Stepping into the role of the rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube’s sidekick in this buddy-cop farce, Kevin Hart had a lot to live up to. Ice Cube and Chris Tucker were classic quipsters in the 1995 comedy Friday that started it all, and when the newcomer Mike Epps dropped in on the sequel, his chemistry with Ice Cube led to a third film. The formula is always the same: Ice Cube, who is level-headed for the most part, gets into trouble with his ridiculous ­sidekick. Ride Along is no different and that’s OK. It’s a blueprint we’ve come to rely on for nearly 20 years. Ben (Hart), who has just been accepted into the Atlanta police academy, is ready to ask his girlfriend ­Angela (Sumpter) to marry him. But first, he’s determined to get the approval of her older brother, James (Ice Cube), an Atlanta police officer.

In order to prove he’s worthy of asking for Angela’s hand, Ben must accompany James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta. Joining the ranks of odd-couple police comedies, Ride Along delivers laughs over action, with the loud-mouthed funnyman Hart driving most of the hilarity.