Review: Ride Along

Review: Ride Along
*Spoiler Alert
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Official 'Ride Along' Poster.

      A fun comedy-cop movie, 'Ride Along' was a surprise box office hit, where it took advantage of the rising fame of its star "Kevin Hart".

"Kevin Hart".

"Ice Cube".

      'James Payton'(Ice Cube) is an authoritative Atlanta cop, who always prefer to work alone and has been trying for three years to capture the criminal mastermind known as 'Omar'(Lawrence Fishburne), who no one has ever seen before. 'Ben Barber'(Kevin Hart) is a fast-talking security guard at a high school, who has been recently accepted to the Police Academy and wants to marry 'James''s sister 'Angela Payton'(Tika Sumpter). But when 'James' refuses to give his approval, 'Ben' decides to prove his worth by going on a 24 hour ride along with 'James' to show him his ability to protect his sister. But 'Ben' will soon realize that this is better said than done and that it wont be as easy as he thought it would be, especially when 'James' takes advantage of him. And 'James''s three year case will coincidentally intertwine with this ride along, which may put his sister's life and 'Ben''s life in danger. Other characters include Atlanta cop 'Santiago'(John Leguizamo), Atlanta cop 'Miggs'(Bryan Callen) and Lt. 'Brooks'(Bruce McGill).

"Tika Sumpter" and "Kevin Hart".

"Bryan Callen" and
"John Leguizamo".

      Over the years comedy movies, especially based on detectives and cops, has been rising. The most recent one was 'The Heat'. Also over the last couple of years comedy movies lead by actresses were also getting popular, such as 'Identity Thief' and 'Bridesmaids'. But 'Ride Along' was the movie that returned back to movies where leading men headlined such movies. Universal over the years has been releasing many successful comedy movies especially during the first half of the year, which usually is the place where unsuccessful movies get dumped. But overall 'Ride Along' is a fairly successful comedy-cop movie, where it succeeds in putting up the pieces of the movie, but is truly successful due to the performances of "Kevin Hart".

"Kevin Hart" and "Ice Cube".

"Ice Cube" and "Kevin Hart".

      Directing his fair share of comedy movies, such as 'Taxi(2004)', 'Barbershop' and 'Think Like a Man', director "Tim Story" performed basically a solid performance making the formula of such movies work. His directing style was enhanced and shown in the action shots, which was helped due to his work on the 'Fantastic Four' film series. Writers "Greg Coolidge"('Employee of the Month), "Jason Mantzoukas", "Phil Hay"('R.I.P.D') and "Matt Mandredi"('Clash of the Titans') gave an under the average story, that lacked the originality and freshness that such movie needs. The score composed by "Christopher Lennertz"('Horrible Bosses') also performed an average job, complementing the movie.

"Kevin Hart" and "Ice Cube".

"Ice Cube" and Kevin Hart".

      The beginning of the movie established the profiling of each of the characters, giving the audiences the necessary information about the characters. The movie really picks up with what the trailers showed us around 30 minutes after the beginning of the movie. From that point is where the movie starts to get interesting, but not to the extent where the movie becomes an ecstatic ride. The events that occured during the ride along are ambitious but lack the originality or the over the top humor that one might expect. The third half of the movie ties up the story and tried to include surprises, which some worked and other fell flat. The time frame of the movie was acceptable, though many scenes could have been removed.

"Kevin Hart".

"Kevin Hart" and "Ice Cube".

      The movie succeeded due to its lead actors, though one shined obviously much brighter than the other. The star of the movie was for sure "Kevin Hart". "Kevin Hart" has been a rising star and a person who draws audiences towards movies that doesn’t scream for audiences, and a great example of this was 2012's 'Think Like a Man'. He has become one of the most prominent comedic actor, even if he has been performing comedy at its best way before. "Ice Cube" supported the movie well as the equal star of the movie, yet his performance was far from equal. "Ice Cube" had his shining moments throughout the movie, but at many times his performance was worth a below the average comedy movie. "Lawrence Fishburne" provided a humorous appearance, while "Tika Sumpter" had an odd yet believable chemistry with "Kevin Hart". "John Leguizamo", "Bryan Callen" and "Bruce McGill" delivered as supporting actors.

      'Ride Along' is far from being a creative movie within its genre, yet the performance of "Kevin Hart" is enough to draw audiences and succeed in the box office for a second movie to be released next year.

'Ride Along'.

-'Ride Along' Info:

-Starring: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Tika Sumpter, John Leguizamo, Bryan Callen and Bruce McGill.

-Studio(s): Relativity Media, Cube Vision Productions and Universal Pictures.

-Directed by: Tim Story.

-Screenplay by: Greg Coolidge, Jason Mantzoukas, Phil Hay and Matt Mandredi.

-Music by: Christopher Lennertz.

-Running Time: 99 minutes.

-Budget: $ 25,000,000.

-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 133,676,000.**

                   -Foreign: $ 13,300,000.**

-Ratings: -IMdb: 6.4/10.

               -Rotten Tomatoes: 17%.

               -Metacritic: 41%.

               -PERSONAL RATING: 6.8/10.

**Still Showing in Theaters Across The World.

-'Ride Along' Trailer: