Ride Along 2 Review

Ride Along 2

"Hahaha!" -Me laughing at the trailer for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

     The buddy-cop comedy Ride Along 2 is directed by Tim Story and stars Kevin Hart as Ben Barber, Ice Cube as James Payton, Benjamin Bratt as Antonio Pope, Ken Jeong as A.J., and Olivia Munn as Maya.

 The sequel to a movie nobody was really asking for, but we got it anyways.

      So here's the gist of Ride Along 2: Ben Barber is a fresh graduate from the police academy and wants to prove to his soon-to-be brother-in-law, James Payton, that he is detective material. So he and James go to Miami, Florida from Atlanta, Georgia, on a tip from a drug dealer they both took down, to bring down the drug lord known as Antonio Pope. With the help of fellow Miami detective Maya and hacker A.J., they go on a run to track Antonio Pope down and to find proof of him being guilty of trafficking drugs. All the while this is happening, Ben has to keep track of his wedding with James' sister to see if he will get back in time. Yup. That's pretty much it.

 Does it sound like a typical buddy-cop comedy? That's because it is a typical buddy-cop comedy.

     Ride Along 2 is the first movie that I saw this year that actually has a January release. The other films I saw were originally released in 2015. I remember reading and hearing that some other films this January weren't so bad. Ride Along 2 really doesn't show that to me. 1 hour passed by while I was sitting in the theater watching this movie and I thought to myself, "Wait. I haven't laughed. I smiled a couple of times, maybe chuckled a little, but I didn't really laugh." The weirdest and saddest thing was that the only time I personally laughed really hard was not at the movie itself, but at the trailer for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. First of all, that's never a good sign if the trailer for another movie makes you laugh more than the movie you came to see. Second of all, the two major reasons, alongside a couple minor reasons, I didn't laugh all that much during Ride Along 2 was because of 1) the writing and 2) Kevin Hart. Yeah. Kevin Hart, who I love watching doing stand-up acts, was just an annoying persona to watch on screen.

 Kevin just compared his performance in Ride Along 2 with his stand-up performances :(

      I mentioned the writing was a reason why I didn't laugh. Well that's an understatement. It wasn't that I just didn't laugh, but I was, at times, shaking my head at the totally missed jokes that were being thrown around. I can't totally blame the actors at all because they did what they were told to. Olivia Munn, who is totally hilarious on TV and other films, is really underutilized as a stoic Miami detective and Ice Cube plays the same kind of foul mouthed and pissed off guy he usually does. Although, Ice Cube usually is funny in those roles, he just doesn't present that blend of funny and anger in Ride Along 2 as he does in other films. Ken Jeong really was the funniest one of the bunch. It wasn't that his performance was Oscar worthy or anything, but it was kind of by default that his was the best. He did fine in the role of A.J. in comparison to the others. I don't know if miscasting was the definitive factor in why Ride Along 2 wasn't that funny, but I can see it being argued that it was part of the reason.

 Congratulations Ken. You are the funniest character in Ride Along 2. I don't think that's a HUGE honor, but you can wear it with pride anyways.

      The other actor that played Ice Cube's other half in Ride Along 2 is Kevin Hart. It's frustrating to see him in this movie because I know, and you guys might know, how funny this man can be.  He plays the same annoying guy he does in almost every movie he does, except this time his jokes never landed, at least for me. Again, this is blamed a lot on the writing since Hart didn't write this or had any credit of the screenplay. I could definitely tell that these weren't the types of jokes he'd usually tell in his stand-up performances. I don't blame Hart himself, it was just his character that was annoying as hell.

 At plenty of points during the film, James (Ice Cube) tells Ben (Kevin Hart) to "focus" and not to fool around. He read my mind.

      A good thing I can say about Ride Along 2 is that at least it was watchable. It definitely wasn't the worst movie to come out in a January. Its cliché plot was totally faulted by the writing and so were the jokes. It's definitely not my kind of comedy, but it will make some people laugh. Then again, I can comprehend that comedy is one of the most subjective topics ever. When one joke doesn't make someone laugh, might make another person laugh. So kudos to those who get more laughs than I did out of watching Ride Along 2. You are probably a more positive human being than I am.

 Don't be surprised that I said Ride Along 2 wasn't the worst movie to come out in any January, Kevin. Your movie could never be as bad as the completely abysmal Meet the Spartans. Anyone remember that piece of crap movie?

      It's mid-January right and as of now, I can't say that it's been the worst January in cinema history, but it's to be expected that it's a dump month. As far as Ride Along 2 goes, it wasn't good. I didn't laugh. I did smile and chuckle for a good amount of the movie, but it wasn't anything special. I came in with low hopes and it really didn't stray too far from what my original thoughts were. I can, however, say that it's watchable. 

Pro

• It's a watchable enough movie
• It's not the worst January film I've ever seen

Con

• Jokes were never completely on point
• Kevin Hart is annoying in this role (and not in a good and funny way)
• The writing was unquestionably under par

 

1.6/5

Ride Along 2 is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, sexual content, language and some drug material 
 

Watch the trailer here

Ride Along 2 is in theaters everywhere now

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