Ride Along
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 17, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
19
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyJan 16, 2014
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 full review
67
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJan 16, 2014
A pleasant, snappy, by-the-numbers buddy comedy. Read full review
63
Film.comLaremy LegelJan 16, 2014
Ride Along is a strong recommend when Hart is talking, but merely a mediocre attempt at a movie when he’s not. Read full review
63
USA TodayScott BowlesJan 16, 2014
Hart is much like Murphy: fast-talking, mischievous and irresistible. He's so confident and good-natured that we see how Angela fell for her pint-sized slacker. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryJan 16, 2014
Hart is clearly working overtime; there’s nothing effortless about his histrionic delivery, but it works. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoJan 16, 2014
Hart’s clowning here is that rare case where louder is, in fact, funnier. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJan 16, 2014
The plot twists are easily guessed, and the film goes on for one predicament too long, but there are some good laughs. Read full review
60
The DissolveNathan RabinJan 16, 2014
This is time-worn, overly familiar material, indifferently directed by journeyman Tim Story, but Hart’s manic comic invention and textured persona elevates it somewhere beyond the level of pleasing mediocrity onto the slightly more distinguished realm of the agreeable-enough time waster. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJan 15, 2014
Turns out to be something like a comic riff on "Training Day." Leaning more toward Hart's brand of slightly raunchy humor rather than Ice Cube's equally popular family-friendly fare, the PG-13 film exhibits broad appeal. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 15, 2014
Many Jerry Lewis staples, including bratty children and imposing tough guys, are present and accounted for; at one point, Hart even childishly leaps into Ice Cube’s arms, Lewis-style. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJan 15, 2014
Hart's exasperated dervish shtick has moments of real live-wire anarchy, including one priceless gag at a firing range. Will it be enough to make Hart a household name? Maybe. But both he and his fans deserve better. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid DenbyJan 27, 2014
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 full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 20, 2014
At its best, Ride Along is tolerable. At its worst, it borders on insulting. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 17, 2014
It all mostly works, but you can’t help but wonder at times if it could have been a lot funnier if it had just a bit more edge. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJan 17, 2014
Ride Along really isn't much of a movie, but the quality that makes it mostly watchable, and occasionally enjoyable, is the fact that it seems to know that it isn't much of a movie, and doesn't push against that fact too much. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJan 16, 2014
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 full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 16, 2014
Ride Along sabotages itself, although I suppose that doesn’t really matter — there are already plans in the works for Ride Along 2. Read full review
50
VarietyScott FoundasJan 15, 2014
A lazy and listless buddy-cop action-comedy that fades from memory as quickly as its generic title. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGabe ToroJan 15, 2014
He (Fishburne) rips into his dialogue like steak, savoring every word as if he were paid by the syllable. For a moment, we’re in a different movie, one where someone has decided to singlehandedly deconstruct a cliché. It’s a very short moment. Read full review
40
Time OutAshley ClarkFeb 25, 2014
Director Tim Story (Fantastic Four) locates the right blend of humour and action in a couple of taut sequences, but Ride Along is saddled with an uninvolving plot, and largely content to coast on cop-movie clichés. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 17, 2014
Here's a film that tries to strike a "Beverly Hills Cop" balance between crime drama and screwball comedy -- but that balance, it should be noted, isn't an easy one to strike. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJan 16, 2014
Story and his four screenwriters don’t exactly strain themselves to find a new angle in this mismatched buddy comedy. Picture “Rush Hour,” and then imagine Hart as the annoying kid in “Are We There Yet?” You’ve basically just watched the entire movie in your head. Read full review
40
TimeRichard CorlissJan 16, 2014
Too bad that Ride Along never makes it to Ordinary; it sinks into sub-. This is a movie you keep watching only from lethargy. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 15, 2014
This rote buddy-cop action comedy is instantly forgettable. We’ve seen it all before, and worse than that, we’ve seen it done far better in films ranging from last year’s "The Heat" to Eighties classics such as "Midnight Run" and "Lethal Weapon." Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 15, 2014
You can practically see Hart straining to break free of the script and let loose with a wild improvisational rant, and you never lose hope that he might. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t.) Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandJan 17, 2014
Ride Along is a film so casual in its conception and execution, it should be titled Drive Thru. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 16, 2014
Time and again, Ride Along comes up with a clichéd setup — and then blows the payoff. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJan 15, 2014
A little Kevin Hart goes a long way in Ride Along, a dull buddy picture engineered as a vehicle for the mini motor mouth and the perma-sneering Ice Cube. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinJan 14, 2014
The film refuses to openly engage the isolationism and hardened cynicism that's often part and parcel of being a career police officer. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJan 16, 2014
The laughs here are lazy, and any sense of logic is definitely on the lam. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJan 14, 2014
Forget going soft — Ride Along proves Ice Cube's got bigger image problems than kiddie movies and Coors Light commercials. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 16, 2014
A collection of moldy gags that director Tim Story tries to polish. Not with these turds, pal. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithJan 15, 2014
Ride Along tries to be a comic version of “Training Day,” only there’s nothing in it as funny as Denzel razzing Ethan. There’s nothing much funny in it at all. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 16, 2014
Ride Along, set in Atlanta, gives shoddiness a bad name. Read full review
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