Movie review: Action comedy "Ride Along 2" reunites Ice Cube and Kevin Hart
January 15, 2016 12:00 AM
Ice Cube plus Kevin Hart equaled box office gold (or maybe silver or bronze) with $155 million worldwide for 2014's "Ride Along."
So it comes as no surprise that the mismatched pair reunite for a sequel, "Ride Along 2." It is more labored than the first action comedy and even the high-energy, fast-talking Mr. Hart cannot keep it afloat throughout.
Starring: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube.
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence, sexual content, language and some drug material.
About a year has passed in the lives of the characters and former security guard Ben Barber (Mr. Hart) is now a rookie Atlanta police officer about to marry his fiancée, Angela Payton (Tika Sumpter). She is the sister of veteran police detective James Payton (Ice Cube), still humorless, no nonsense and generally dismissive of Ben's skills as a cop.
Although Ben's wedding is just days away, he pleads with James to accompany him on a trip to Miami to follow up on a bust gone bad. James thinks this could spell the end of Ben's short-lived career — he's still on probation, after all — and the two head south.
The newbie is giddy at the prospect of the future brothers-in-law on the loose in Miami, where the pair run into a slippery computer hacker (Ken Jeong), a hard-edged homicide cop (Olivia Munn) and a wealthy businessman (Benjamin Bratt) who is secretly a ruthless crime lord. "Ride Along 2" allows Ben to play the fool but prove he might have good police instincts and skills after all.
A purposely clumsy foot pursuit is protracted and unfunny but a car chase that morphs into a version of the video games Ben loves to play is inventive. Nonstop backseat banter between Mr. Hart and Mr. Jeong provides a welcome spike of unpredictable humor with a nod to "Star Wars." It sounds like ad-libbed banter between takes that director Tim Story decided was a keeper.
Sherri Shepherd turns up as a bellicose wedding planner who locks horns with Ben over such details as reception flowers. The wedding had potential for comic fodder but is reduced to bookends for the Miami action, which tries to milk laughs out of punches to the face, close encounters with gunfire or a hungry gator and an order for someone to literally eat garbage out of the trash. It also serves up traditional explosions and other violent skirmishes.
The first movie was a novelty. The second returns to the same well, fearful of straying from the successful formula. If there is a third, here is hoping the roles are reversed or perhaps just refreshed and that as much energy is put into the screenplay as in the endless televised promotion.
Movie editor Barbara Vancheri: bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632. Read her blog: www.post-gazette.com/madaboutmovies.
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