Ride Along 2

Believe it or not, it's been a little while since we've seen a bonafide sequel come our way. Yes, we've seen a plethora of reboots or continuations of a 'series' franchise, but not an actual sequel until "Ride Along 2" came along. This doesn't mean I'm necessarily welcoming more sequels, but as long as the sequel is well done, as most are not, then why not? I can tell you, this is not as good as the original, not that its predecessor was consummate, so do not get your hopes up.

This sequel picks up about a year after our heroes' last adventure. With Ben's wedding upcoming, James (Ice Cube) reluctantly takes Ben (Kevin Hart) with him to Miami to follow up on a lead connected to a drug-ring case he's been trying to crack. While in Miami, they meet Maya (Olivia Munn), a no BS homicide detective who lets them know that Miami is her turf. They also encounter A.J. (Ken Jeong), a shady, cocky computer hacker who reveals evidence that implicates a well-respected local businessman, the wealthy Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), who harbors a vicious streak and rules South Florida's drug trade. If James and Ben can convince the authorities that Pope is a brutal crime boss, they'll be behind our heroes 100%. However if they fail, well, there may not be a wedding after all.

Others to round out the cast are Bruce McGill as Lt. Brooks of the Miami P.D., Tika Sumpter as Angela Payton, Ben's fiancé, Michael Rose as The Hitter/Gates, Sherri Shepherd as Cori, planner of the wedding and Glen Powell as Troy.

This was adequately directed by Tim Story ("Barbershop" '02, "Taxi" '04, "Fantastic Four" '05, "Think Like a Man" '12, "Ride Along" '14) plus others and episodic TV. He certainly put an equal amount of energy in this as he did with "Ride Along", but when he has a somewhat weaker script to work with, this is the best he could've done. Next, the writing. This was written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi based on characters created by Greg Coolidge, and even though it was written by the same guys who wrote the original, I believe the one ingredient left out here was that of Coolidge. The original by also written by Coolidge based on his story or idea. This was his baby, so leaving him out this time around was a grave mistake. Sure, original films are usually going to be better than those that follow, but this was in dire need of a pick-me-up. Of course, the two writers who wrote this are seasoned writers, but this truly needed Coolidge's stamp of approval. Don't get me wrong, there were funny moments in this, and certainly after a point, the storyline did pick up, but not after a fair amount of banal and predictable dialogue. The teaming of Ice Cube and Kevin Hart is a stroke of genius--such opposites in personalities, and Ken Jeong's role was uproarious, but without these elements, this would be yet just another stamped out formulaic comedy we've seen all too many times.

If you like funny characters in film, you will enjoy this, however if you're looking for a cohesive, well thought-out script, you might be sorry seeing this. Of course, if you're in a situation where you want or need to see pure fluff, like I was at, then this will definitely fit the bill. The decision's yours.

Out of 4 Stars: 2                                Rated: PG-13                               102mins.