Moviegoers will regret hopping in for Ride Along 2

Hollywood often dumps its most forgettable Oscar non-contenders into a January junk pile, and the high-revving but lowbrow Ride Along 2—this past weekend’s box office winner—is no exception.

The first Ride Along film ended with Ben Barber (Kevin Hart) surviving police academy—really, everyone else surviving him—and proposing to Angela (Tika Sumpter), the sister of veteran detective James Payton (Ice Cube).

Ben, now a rookie cop working through his probationary period, has yet to win over James. James still feels Ben is neither cut out for police work nor worthy of his sister. He takes Ben with him from Atlanta to Miami to follow up on a lead, seeing an opportunity to expose Ben’s incompetence and get him kicked off the force and out of Angela’s life.

James and Ben arrive in Miami (signaled in the film’s score by, of course, Gloria Estefan’s “Conga”), where they enlist the dubious assistance of a computer hacker, A.J. (Ken Jeong), who has embezzled a million dollars from wealthy businessman Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt). James, Ben, and local detective Maya Cruz (Olivia Munn) discover Pope controls a lucrative contraband trade running through the port of Miami.

Taking the road more traveled, the producers of Ride Along 2 (rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, sexual content, language, and some drug material) apparently expect to bewitch moviegoers with bared flesh and dazzle with special effects wizardry. But mindless shtick, sexed-up scenery, and a predictable plot make the film a tiresome ride.

Likely drawing inspiration from one of the best-written buddy-cop movie series, Hart does energetically channel Joe Pesci’s Lethal Weapon 2 milquetoast chatterbox character. Mix in a dose of Inspector Clouseau’s professional ineptitude and timely good luck, and his character, Ben, has potential. With few exceptions, though, his wisecracks and slapstick disappoint. Only when the film dares to tip a sacred cow is there a legitimate chuckle.

“You ran from us because we’re black!” James snarls from behind dark sunglasses.

“Look at you,” A.J. pleads, out of breath. “You’d run from you, too.”

After playing to the basest of impulses, the director evidently hopes Ben and Angela’s wedding ceremony finale will atone for the prior 90 minutes’ rubbish. But it’s a bow wrapping up an empty box. Most moviegoers will likely be hurrying to the reception—the theater’s concession area on their way out of the building.