Ride Along 2
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 15, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
15
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJan 21, 2016
Hart’s irritating character desperately seeks approval, but his idiocy is too much. The comedian makes Jerry Lewis look like Benedict Cumberbum – and if you think that line is funny, Ride Along 2 is your kind of jam. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 21, 2016
The script by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi gives you next to nothing for narrative complication and surprise, and a meager amount of verbal jokes. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 16, 2016
Ride Along 2, which picks up not long after the first film ended, doesn’t mess much with the formula, except that everything feels more frayed and tired this time around. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 15, 2016
It's simply a retread of the first Ride Along, a 2014 box-office hit, and proof positive that a bigger budget doesn’t buy bigger laughs. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 15, 2016
As for this long, boring, violent sequel? Life’s too short. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineEric HendersonJan 14, 2016
Like any serving of junk food, it seems engineered to give you that initial rush of satisfaction, but leaves you in a dead zone where the only thing you want is more of the same. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 14, 2016
This franchise is lucky to have Kevin Hart in that role, and his manic comic energy is enough to make the sequel something other than a complete waste of time. But the genre is also stubbornly innovation-proof, and there’s not much new to see here. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJan 14, 2016
Shoddy and exhausted from the start, this painfully unfunny buddy-cop comedy lands with a plop in the January sewer of failed Hollywood castoffs. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoJan 14, 2016
You’ll have to be satisfied with a modest assortment of energetically comic moments here, because the story sure isn’t a reason to catch this encore, and neither are who-asked-for-’em cast additions such as Ken Jeong. Read full review
37
Washington PostStephanie MerryJan 14, 2016
The plot is paint by numbers, which puts pressure on the comedy to deliver. But it doesn’t. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKayla S. SamoyJan 14, 2016
At best, Ride Along 2 is what you’ve seen in every other comedic cop movie. Nothing outstanding, but mindless fun. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 14, 2016
It’s a formula movie, which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem, except that it’s a sort of bad version of itself. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 14, 2016
As cop comedies go, Ride Along 2 gets the job done. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJan 14, 2016
One of the loudest laughs arrives when we get to enjoy a scowling James re-imagined as a game character. Points for greater diversity in the cast as well, but, if there is a second sequel in the offing, please allow the women to be more than the sum of their body parts. Read full review
0
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthJan 14, 2016
The entire film seems cloaked with a general vibe of “good enough.” Embarrassingly cheap CGI effects, poor ADR, and slipshod, jarring editing are the technical failures that compound with the creative ones to indicate a movie that’s not just miscalculated, but seemingly committed to putting together, at its best, a deliverable product and nothing more. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 13, 2016
Although the plot is pretty bare-bones, it’s propped up by plenty of gratuitous dialogue and imagery that do nothing to further the story. Read full review
40
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonJan 13, 2016
With a script that’s about as inventive as the title, Ride Along 2 does little more than rehash the formula that two years ago teamed Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in an amiable if unambitious action comedy. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJan 13, 2016
This laid-back amusement should not be misinterpreted as competent storytelling. Though some of the jokes land, that’s entirely due to the performances; there’s not one example of clever writing in the entire picture. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Jan 13, 2016
Pretty as Bratt and Munn are, they're not distracting enough to cover up for the screaming Hart and grating Jeong, who seem to be in a race to see who can play a more annoying character. In the end, it's a tie — they both win. Read full review
12
New York PostKyle SmithJan 13, 2016
To call Ride Along 2 rubbish is unfair to rubbish, which at some point had a purpose. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 13, 2016
For better and for worse, it's neither better nor worse than the original "Ride Along." That's because it's essentially the same movie. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJan 13, 2016
The implausibilities, cop-movie checkboxes, and mildly wasted talent make Ride Along 2 lazy, but not downright loathsome. If anything, it’s perhaps slightly more amusing and agreeable than the original—a sign of how little that film’s seemingly surefire premise wound up mattering. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 13, 2016
Ride Along 2 is the movie equivalent of a cover band. We’ve seen it all before, and often in much better films. Read full review
30
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 13, 2016
The film’s most genuinely funny moment involves A.J.’s ringtones, which should perhaps come as no surprise — the stakes, and the laughs, are so small that Ride Along 2 was apparently designed to be watched on your phone. Read full review
42
ConsequenceRandall ColburnJan 13, 2016
Hart, the firecracker that he is, has a fitting comedic (and crime-fighting) partner out there somewhere. But it’s not in the Ride Along series. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyKevin P. SullivanJan 13, 2016
Ride Along 2, which moves the action from Atlanta to Miami, plays more like a remake than a sequel. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJan 13, 2016
With a storyline less challenging than that of a typical CBS crime procedural, Ride Along 2 is little more than a repetitive rehash of the original. Read full review
20
VarietyJustin ChangJan 13, 2016
Another tired, witless and potentially lucrative attempt to spin an exhausted buddy-cop template into action-comedy gold. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJan 12, 2016
Like your smartphone, it's a testament to the theory of interchangeable parts, a perfectly engineered product that, if you're charitable, you might also think of in terms of art....But every time I started to believe that there's some parodic impulse behind the filmmakers' recasting of clichés, Cube's character would punch a suspect in custody or commit some other violation of civil liberties that the film invites us to cheer. Read full review
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