I wasn't expecting much from this film and I didn't get much either. The little I did receive from this film was worth it. I walked out of the theater smiling and thinking, "I wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I just did" and that's ok in my book. So let's take a look at "Ride Along 2" and some areas of opportunity and accomplishments I saw while watching this movie.
First, Rotten Tomatoes has this film at ratings low enough to make anyone question why I'd bother to see the thing. The critic score is abysmal sitting at 13% rotten. I wasn't surprised by that and to be honest I don't care. Certain films are made for a single purpose and this film falls in that category. This film was made to entertain and provide chuckles. So we'll excuse the critic score from the conversation because it's the user score that should more accurately reflect how enjoyable this film was. After all, the user score indicates what we the viewers think and hopefully we're seeing films that interest us. Critics have to see everything. Users pay to see what they prefer. That being said, the user score is 56% rotten. Ouch. Even the people who enjoyed the first one, like the characters, the actors, everything did not enjoy this film by a slight majority.
Overall, this film had potential to be so much better than it was. Unfortunately, I blame the writing and directing for all the short comings present in this film. This movie was stuffed with cliche's and predictable moments. So much so I groaned out loud once or twice in the theater. Additionally, tell one story if that's what your movie is supposed to do. Don't tell tell one story with half the cast, then tell the same story differently but at the same time with Kevin Hart's character and finally add Ken Jeong as comedic relief when one of your stars is Kevin Hart! The whole movie is happening at one speed, then Kevin takes over and changes the tempo of the film. Interestingly enough, it was Kevin Harts character that made the film enjoyable. The manner in which the story developed with his character was the entertaining and enjoyable part. The whole movie is happening and it feels like a process. Then Kevin takes over and the movie becomes entertaining. Then it goes back to process. On, off, on off. It was ridiculous.
Ken Jeong and Kevin Hart sharing screen time and dialogue was great. The timing these two comedic actors have actually made me forget how poorly made this film was. It was like being in a desert of boredom only to find comedic water bottles sporadically along the way.
Kevin's character had a story line that stayed consistent, was humorous and at times very original. Then it switches off him and becomes step-by-step movie making that we've all seen hundreds of times before. I couldn't get over how poorly directed this film was. I went back and looked at Tim Story's IMDB page and found out he's made other terrible films like the early 2000's "Fantastic Four" and the even bigger stink pile that was "Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer". So, it made sense why the directing was so bad here when there's a pattern of garbage films in his resume.
"Ride Along 2" is in theaters now! Overall, I don't recommend anyone see this film in theaters. If it comes on TV, OnDemand, VOD or you "win" it at a white elephant gift exchange then take a viewing just for the Kevin Hart storyline. Theres more bad than good here but the good is quite entertaining to be fair. Also, Tika Sumpter is gorgeous in this film so that helps bump up the positives.
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