Ride Along 2014

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: Ride Along has the dubious distinction of being simultaneously shoddy and straining, lazy and desperate. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: This is a movie you keep watching only from lethargy. Read more

Wesley Morris, Grantland: As a comedian [Hart] has been begging for Hollywood's attention for five years. He has it now, but you've got to believe he can do better than this. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: There's nothing much funny in it at all. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Gives shoddiness a bad name. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: I'd have given all my popcorn for something unexpected, like a song-and-dance number, but "Ride Along" just plods along, not terrible but never particularly engaging. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: A lazy and listless buddy-cop action-comedy that fades from memory as quickly as its generic title. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Is any of it funny? Hart and Cube's deliveries certainly are, but skilled comedians can make people laugh without being all that funny, especially if there's a large audience involved. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: History is lousy with mismatched-partner cop movies, and Tim Story's film is just another in that long line. Read more

Jessica Herndon, Associated Press: Joining the ranks of odd-couple police comedies, ''Ride Along'' delivers laughs over action, with loudmouthed funnyman Kevin Hart driving the hilarity. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: [Hart] at least ... gives a boost to the familiar buddy-cops formula of "Ride Along." Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: This routine buddy picture offers plenty of instant gratification (Cube and Hart are easygoing screen presences, and many of their one-liners are funny) but shows little concern for characterization, storytelling, or even comic pacing. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It'll probably be a hit: Audiences are getting precisely what they're promised. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: [Most] of the movie is a wash of buddy cop cliches and double crosses that aren't worth the cocktail napkin they were jotted on. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Will it be enough to make Hart a household name? Maybe. But both he and his fans deserve better. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: A forum for Kevin Hart to be the best stand-up comedian he can be. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: Since the film's largely schematic subplot about Serbian gunrunners can't manage much in the way of originality, it's fortunate that Story knows his way around a comedy. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Cube is solid as the impenetrable brick wall that Hart's comic barrage bounces off. Their odd-couple shtick delivers laughs. But more often than not "Ride Along" chokes on its own fumes. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: The rapper and activist who recorded a furious album about the Rodney King attack is now embracing exactly the kind of violent, entitled, civil rights-crushing cop he once demonized Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Kevin Hart's mouth is the sole reason for the existence of the by-the-numbers buddy comedy Ride Along, which rises and falls on the strength of his chattery comic delivery. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Hart's springy energy and Ice Cube's deadpan snarl can be amusing, but they can't compensate for weak material. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Nothing in the movie makes sense, but I prefer to think that "Ride Along" is just a badly told joke, rather than an insult to its audience. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: For 100 minutes, I didn't think about anything else at all. And sometimes that small relief is the best thing a movie can give. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: If you're looking for brainless action, hop in. But if you're aiming any higher, you'll probably want to find another ride. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: The plot twists are easily guessed, and the film goes on for one predicament too long, but there are some good laughs. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: It's a particularly heartless, mindless and soulless example of the buddy movie -- really more just a frenemy burlesque of a buddy movie. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: Ride Along is a film so casual in its conception and execution, it should be titled Drive Thru. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: At its best, Ride Along is tolerable. At its worst, it borders on insulting. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: This is a live-action cartoon. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Ride Along [is] a collection of moldy gags that director Tim Story tries to polish. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The most truthful answer is friendly but unexciting: They're OK. They're pretty good. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Kevin Hart hits the vicinity of humor with a few of his drive-by wisecracks, but the movie itself has nothing under the hood. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: It's a noisy ride to nowhere. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Scene after scene of a sputtering Hart and a glowering Ice Cube, despite the fact that they were brilliantly funny in, respectively, Think Like a Man and Barbershop, their previous collaborations with director Tim Story. Read more

Ashley Clark, Time Out: Ride Along is saddled with an uninvolving plot, and largely content to coast on cop-movie cliches. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: [Hart] gives Ride just enough buoyancy to keep it afloat, despite a story that would sink most performances. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: An Ice Cube and Kevin Hart comedy that will probably be in a Rite-Aid discount bin in about six months. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: You might think of the movie as a long car trip you've taken many times before. The same old roadside attractions may not be exciting, but when you've got great company, who cares? Read more