Review: Ride Along 2 – “A slap-to-the-face sequel”

During Ride Along 2, I noticed a number of people in the audience going to the toilet. ‘They’re going to miss all the jokes’, I thought to myself. How would they be able to follow the intricate character arcs of Kevin Hart and Mr. Ice Cube if they were absent for a few minutes? And then I realised; they were probably getting more laughs out of pissing on urinal cakes and constructing more interesting narratives by blasting the porcelain with their arse noises.

Ride Along 2, as that number on the end suggests, is a slap-to-the-face sequel that hopes you’re stupid enough to pay for the exact same film you saw last time, but a worse version of it. There is a plot, but it’s pretty non-consequential: something about Kevin Hart still wanting to impress his detective brother-in-law while a shipping mogul smuggles guns and drugs. The real point of it all – just in case you haven’t had enough of it already – is to see Hart yapping and flailing around like a Chihuahua on hot coals, while Mr. Iceberg Lettuce remains cool as… er… ice.

I laughed once. It was a gag about ringtones. Apart from that, this is less funny than Schindler’s List. It rides on the apparent popularity of the first film, repeating the whole back-and-forth formula between Hart and Mr. Ice Ice Baby, yet this time it has room for clichés, too. Olivia Munn’s Miami homicide detective, Maya, is probably the most interesting thing about the film, until she’s utilised as walking cleavage in one of those sexy dance distraction scenes you’ve seen a million times. And Benjamin Bratt’s bad guy might as well have a twisted moustache.

The good news for Kevin Hart fans is that he’ll soon be appearing in another cop comedy with Dwayne The Rock Johnson in Central Intelligence. It’ll make a pleasant change to see him play a mouthy wisecracker alongside someone twice his height.

Words by Chris Edwards

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