So, to say I had high expectations going into Ride Along would be a lie. I went into the theater thinking I would bear witness to a watered down version of The Heat (2013) with Kevin Hart playing Mellissa McCarthy and Ice Cube playing Sandra Bullock.  I must admit, though, when I first heard about this film, I was hoping for a glorious mix of 48 Hours and Bad Boys.  What I got in the end was something entirely different.

Ride Along is not going to win any Oscars. That’s a fact, and I am sure the filmmakers know that. What it will do is entertain you. It will make you forget about your job and your life for 105 minutes.  Kevin Hart plays Ben Barber (or Black Hammer, as he prefers) – the fumbling, fast-talking high school security guard with an addiction to Call of Duty.  Ice Cube plays the hard-nosed cop with the chip on his shoulder, James Payton.  They are brought together one fateful day when Ben, with plans to marry his girlfriend, Angela (played by the beautiful Tika Sumpter), finds himself looking to Angela’s brother, James, for acceptance. James, however, has different plans – to prove that Ben is not the man to marry his sister.

What we get next is a long day filled with trans-gender assaults, childish arguments, and phantom enemies. The first two acts are where the movie actually works best.  With every 126 (most annoying of all police calls) that James (Cube) and Ben (Hart) are called to, the movie gets funnier and funnier.  Ice Cube and Kevin Hart play off each other very well. They are two actors that most people genuinely enjoy, and they show us why over and over again in this film. If there’s any movie that could help Kevin Hart jump to bigger roles, it’s this one. Hell, the sequel has already been green lighted! We can see the level of confidence the studio already sees in this pairing.

The watered down PG-13 rating is where this film suffered. Sure it will make money (with a reported $20 million budget), but it would still make plenty of money with an R rating. People familiar with earlier work from Ice Cube understand the difference between him in the R rated Friday (1995) and him in the PG rated Are We There Yet? (2005). Likewise, those familiar with Kevin hart’s standup know the difference between him doing his uncensored stand-up and him in PG 13 rated Think Like A Man (2012). Why separate these guys from what they do best by handcuffing them with a PG-13 rating? Even the films one F-bomb feels misplaced due to the light hearted comedy approach this film takes to police work.

The final act is when that PG-13 rating and weak script start to show. With poorly executed action and unbelievably inept bad guys, it falls very flat, to the point I was wishing it was over.  The additional plot points that form the third act truly shows that even the writers were not sure how they wanted this movie to end.  However, if you stick it out, you will be rewarded with a clever little cameo that will definitely bring some cheers to your local Cineplex.  In the end, the movie is not a bad way to spend your time and money. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube make a great comedic team and I truly believe they could be better together than Ice Cube and Mike Epps so long as their next teaming has a solid script and an R rating.

3 out 4