If you like Kevin Hart, you’ll enjoy Ride Along, the buddy-cop movie that pairs the motor-mouthed stand-up with straight-man Ice Cube. The action serves as a framework to Hart’s shtick, the mannequin on which his routine hangs. It’s a solid, if familiar, structure in the vein of 48 Hrs., the early-’80s Nick Nolte-Eddie Murphy comedy acknowledged as a touchstone by the filmmakers—gussied up, as the earlier film was, by its second lead’s outsized personality.
Hart plays Ben, a high-school security guard who dreams of joining the police force and marrying his girlfriend, Angela (Tika Sumpter). When he’s accepted into the academy, he decides it’s time to tie the knot, too, but not without the blessing of Angela’s brother, James (Cube). Trouble is, James, an Atlanta P.D. detective, isn’t too fond of Ben, but he agrees to give Ben a chance if he can make it through a day in the passenger seat of his Dodge Charger.
The product placement by the automaker is about as obvious as it gets, from the flashy, flaming Ram truck James commandeers in the movie’s opening-credits action sequence to Ben’s effusive excitement over the features on his partner-for-the-day’s black matte-finish Charger R/T. Fortunately, such marketing, while noticeable, still feels appropriate for the plot and characters—the ideal scenario for a sponsor.