Where to watch Ride Along 2
1 Star
Ride Along 2 is a coarser, more hectic, more cheaply written sequel to the smash hit from a few years back. This is a dull, and redundant exercise in marching through mismatched buddy-movie troupes. The biggest loser in all of this is star Kevin Hart, who still hasn’t found the right comedy vehicle for his talents. Ice Cube’s legacy as a hip-hop pioneer hopefully won’t be tarnished by the string of sub-par movies he’s appeared in over the last 20+ years. Here, the comedy is tepid, the action is dopey and even the violence is boring.
Rookie law officer Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) dreams of one-day becoming a well-respected detective like his brother-in-law, James Payton (Ice Cube). In a series of contrived events, James reluctantly agrees to let Ben accompany him to Miami to track down a local drug ring and the cartel behind the criminal operation. The out of jurisdiction cops are aided by one of Miami’s local homicide detectives and a bratty computer hacker who reveals evidence that implicates a respected businessman. Now, the brothers-in-law set out to prove that smeary businessman Antonio Pope is actually running southern Florida’s vast drug trade.
Ride Along was amiably silly. This sequel is a paper-thin follow-up that’s not much fun. The stocky, scowling Ice Cube and small, jittery Hart don’t play off each other well; they have no real on-screen chemistry. Everything about Ride Along 2 is so lazy and uninspired, it’s hard to believe that director Tim Story also made Think Like a Man and Barbershop, arguably Kevin Hart and Ice Cube’s funniest individual movies.
Director: Tim Story
Stars: Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Ken Jeong