The buddy cop movie has been a staple of cinema for decades, and it’s always been a straightforward way for a rising comedic talent to test the waters of movie stardom. It worked a treat for Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs. back in 1982, with Walter Hill’s classic setting the template the genre still largely follows to this day, and almost every stand-up has walked down the same path at some point or another.
Remember when Adam Sandler partnered up with Damon Wayans for 1996 action comedy Bulletproof? Probably not, and it remains the one and only time the Sandman has dipped his toes into a little running and gunning. That proves that the formula isn’t always successful, but it yielded major success for Kevin Hart when he took one of his first major feature film roles opposite the charismatically curmudgeonly Ice Cube in Ride Along.
Tim Story’s breezy caper was roundly panned by critics, but it still made $154 million on a $25 million budget, so a sequel was inevitably announced. Ride Along 2 fared much the same in terms of reviews, where it currently holds a dismal 13% Rotten Tomatoes score, but once again it turned a hefty profit.
The second outing for Hart’s Ben Barber and Cube’s James Payton has been dominating the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list all week, and it’s still riding high in third place as we head into the weekend, as per FlixPatrol.
