Movie Review - Ride Along

Ride Along ** (PG-13) The amount of Kevin Hart’s nervous mile-a-minute chatter you can enjoy will be the main factor in your own rating for this latest, and perhaps least original, entry in the cop/buddy comedy genre. As always, two people (or, occasionally a human and dog) who can’t stand each other (Hart, Ice Cube) are thrown together against their will to eventually best the baddies and bond with each other after a series of (ideally) amusing clashes between themselves.

The diminutive, high-octane Hart, a very funny stand-up comic turned actor, has thrived on the persona of small, yappy dog, playing characters who spew a constant stream of verbiage to make sure they’re not overlooked. This time he’s applied to Atlanta’s police academy, hoping to feel worthy of proposing to his lady love, and impressing her brother - Ice Cube, one of the city’s force’s most hard-nosed detectives. He can’t stand the little guy, and pushes him into sharing a day in his patrol car after arranging to be dispatched on the most aggravating types of call. The idea is to dissuade Hart from both his romantic and career goals in one humbling, if not humiliating, shot.

What ensues is the sort of verbal and broad physical array of antics one expects from all the similar films that established the template. In the last three Lethal Weapon movies, Joe Pesci’s Leo Getz contributed the same sort of earnest, deluded chatterbox energy that Hart brings to this production. But Pesci was a bit player, with his annoying patter sparsely, and therefore positively, before us. Hart’s shtick has worked well in similarly limited roles, including his recent turn in Grudge Match. A little (no height reference intended) of that hyperkinetic riffing goes a long way. As Hart sustained it throughout this co-starring gig, he exceeded my limit. Your mileage may vary. (1/17/14)