With “The Heat” proving this past weekend that a fresh spin on an old formula can bring out audiences in droves, Universal will be hoping they can work the same magic next year with “Ride Along.” Yes, it’s another buddy cop movie that once again finds an interesting tweak to give everyone involved a new entry into the genre.
Granted, the concept is thin: a seasoned, hardened veteran cop (Ice Cube), forces the man who wants to marry sister, a security guard turned cop (Kevin Hart), to go on a ride along with him in order to prove his worth. And yet out of that logline, this new trailer works in some pretty decent belly laughs, which perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise given that these two have more than proven in the past that they can be very, very funny. But we have to say, we weren’t expecting to laugh as hard as we did, so maybe this will be an early pleasant surprise of 2014? Hell, Universal thinks so as they are already developing a sequel.
“Ride Along” opens on January 17, 2014.