Skip to main content

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE Featurette

RIDE ALONG Movie Review. The Film Is Funny From Start To Finish

RIDE ALONG Movie Review
By: MattInRC

Thankfully, Ride Along takes us out of the Month of Meh in hilarious fashion.


As we've lamented before, films in January are usually forgettable tripe thrown together to literally get Hollywood past the doldrums of the Oscar season. The results are usually just as bad - from The Legend of Hercules to The Nut Job and The Marked Ones. Thankfully, our first REAL movie of 2014 arrives with the hilarious buddy-cop Ride Along, reminding us that Januaries are not so bad.


High school security employee Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) wants desperately to join the Atlanta Police Department, hoping to take his online Xbox handle as BlackHammer to the streets. He also hopes to win the hand of his girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter), whose brother James Payton (Ice Cube) already serves on the force. However, James doesn't have a great opinion of Ben, whom he thinks is not ready for either the police or his sister. Payton decides to take Ben on a ride along, purposely exposing him to every undesirable call in the hopes of frustrating Ben to quit his dream. But that's going to get in the way of Payton's real goal: pursuing a shadowy drug/gun dealer (Laurence Fishburne), whom no one has lived to describe. As Payton and Ben clash over style, Angela gets caught in the middle, forcing her heroes to make desperate choices to protect her.


Director Tim Story hasn't had a really great film career - although he directed the successful but dubious Think Like a Man, he is primarily responsible for giving us the dreaded Fantastic Four franchise that is thankfully being rebooted. But here, he gives Hart a chance to let loose, even though the serious parts of the script by Writers Greg Coolidge and Jason Mantzoukas are as contrived and predictable as they come. There's the feisty Lieutenant (Bruce McGill) who doesn't like the renegade Payton, the dirty cops (JohnLeguizamo and Bryan Callen), and the aforementioned arms dealer whom we wished Story had left out from the early credits, as he appears almost as a cameo. But somehow, Story keeps this ship afloat with plenty of laughs and uncomfortable moments for Hart to squeal over. He's obviously a fish out of water around the tough cop Payton, and Hart plays it well - check out the smacktalk with a little kid on the basketball court, or his 'fight' with a 5150 and a jar of honey. Cube is his usual over-the-top angry dude, but again it just somehow works, with the two keeping us in stitches throughout most of the film.


Critics are going to kill this one for being predictable and superficial, but we think audiences will enjoy it for what it is. Sure, it doesn't pave new roads in the Buddy-Cop genre and would get crushed as a Summer release, but Ride Along is funny from start to finish,finally breaking the streak of bad films to kick off 2014. We think it will do quite well against these early and terrible flicks, something we're sure the critics will also dislike. If that kind of success is something critics detest, then we hope people line the streets to see it. We can't take this sort of diet through March or even February, but for now Ride Along is good enough food for our movie soul. Ride Along is rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sexual suggestions and has a runtime of 100 minutes.

Discuss this review with fellow SJF fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJFilms, and follow author Matt Cummings at @mfc90125.

Please Leave A Comment-

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Clip & Release Date For Chaos Walking Starring Tom Holland & Daisy Ridley

In the not too distant future, Todd Hewitt ( Tom Holland ) discovers Viola ( Daisy Ridley ), a mysterious girl who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by “the Noise” – a force that puts all their thoughts on display. In this dangerous landscape, Viola’s life is threatened – and as Todd vows to protect her, he will have to discover his own inner power and unlock the planet’s dark secrets. .   In theater & IMAX March 5th.   Discuss this with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms Please Leave A Comment-

Sex Tape Review: Overly Sexual, Rude, Vulgar, and Absolutely Hilarious

The raunchy Sex Tape will divide audiences and critics, but who cares? Sex Tape suggests a growing practice among loving partners: that of making a raunchy testament of their escapades for posterity. But what happens when that evidence gets seen by friends, neighbors, and even the mailman? This is the plot that pits Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) in an effort to secure every iPad gift Jay has given, his record company playlists being the envy of the recipients, but which has also inadvertently spread the video to every device. The reason for the act - termed in the movie as pulling "the full Lincoln " for its three-hour length - stems from the couple's non-existent social life, brought on by the constant demands of their children. The couple has a lot to lose: a burgeoning business relationship between Annie and Hank (Rob Lowe) could end if the iPad she's given to Hank exposes the video, and so the couple sets out to reclaim and wipe the incrim

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Trailer

In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang ( Paul Rudd ) and Hope Van Dyne ( Evangeline Lilly ) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang. Director Peyton Reed returns to direct the film; Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard produce.     Discuss this with fellow SJF fans on Facebook . On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms Please Leave A Comment-