Olivia Munn Joins Ride Along 2

Geek goddess Olivia Munn has a major supporting role in Scott Derrickson’s upcoming horror vehicle Deliver Us From Evil, but today brings news that the actress, who stars on HBO’s The Newsroom, will be brandishing her formidable comedic chops for her next big role. According to THR, Universal has recruited Munn to join Kevin Hart and Ice Cube in 2016’s comedy sequel Ride Along 2.

Munn is said to be playing a tough Miami homicide detective who is a love interest for Cube’s hard-boiled Detective James Payton. It’s exciting to see the talented actress come aboard – hopefully (?) she’ll have more to do than walk around in various states of undress, which was the extent of actress Tika Sumpter’s role in the first film. Plot details for the sequel, which finds Tim Story returning to direct, are hazy, but Variety reports that Ride Along 2 will find James and recent police academy graduate Ben Barder (Hart) “traveling to Miami for fun, chaos, and shenanigans.”

Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi penned the script for the sequel, which will find Sumpter reprising her role as Ben’s fiancee and James’ sister Angela. Benjamin Bratt, who recently appeared on Fox’s 24: Live Another Day, has also come aboard in an undisclosed role. A deleted scene from Ride Along showed that film’s archvillain Omar (Laurence Fishburne) escaping from police custody, but it’s unclear whether that actor is on board for the sequel (though, to be fair, pretty much none of us knew he was in Ride Along either).

Unfortunately, I’m still not sold on a sequel to Ride Along. The first film was funny, but only in a scattershot way, and a lot of that came from Hart’s livewire energy. The actor has been ubiquitous in recent months, and something tells me that by 2016, he’s not going to be the same box office draw that he is right now. Besides, does Ride Along even work as a title for this sequel? Ben graduated from the police academy at the end of the first film, so he’s actually a cop when this sequel opens. In no way is he still just a civilian along for the ride.

Sigh. We’ll find out whether Ride Along 2 was a good idea when the film opens on January 15th, 2016.