Ride Along (2014) * *

Directed by:  Tim Story

Starring:  Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, John Leguizamo, Tika Sumpter, Laurence Fishburne, Bruce McGill

We know exactly how Ride Along will play out.    There are no surprises, but in such a case we count on the energy of the actors and the funniness of the script to pull it through.    Alas, the actors do what they can, but the performances aren't enough to overcome the weak script and few laughs.    

The story is nothing new.     A well-meaning motormouth security guard named Ben (Hart) is engaged to a nice girl named Angela (Sumpter), who puts up with his constant video-game playing.     He is accepted into the police academy, but her older brother James (Cube), an Atlanta cop, doesn't approve of him.     James thinks Ben is too lightweight to marry his sister and offers a solution:  Have Ben ride along with him on patrol to test his mettle.     If he does well, James will give his blessing to the marriage.     If not, well I'm not sure what will happen.     I guess James will have an annoying brother-in-law who will ruin cookouts.

James has Ben handle the "186s", which is cop code for minor annoyances.     Ben finds it difficult dealing with a biker bang loitering in front of a store and a young child who insults his height.     But he is determined to persevere, and even indirectly helps James in his case against a never-seen crime kingpin named Omar, who allegedly kills anyone who sees his face.     This leads to a whole series of logistical problems that I won't get into right now.  

Ride Along goes as expected.     Ben and James start out disliking each other, come to a guarded truce, and then become partners in the war against Omar when Angela is kidnapped.     Hart expends a lot of energy with his rants, a la Chris Tucker, but most of them don't generate much laughs.     Ice Cube plays the Ice Cube role, a no-nonsense guy who doesn't suffer fools gladly.     Leguizamo is given so little to do as Ice Cube's partner that we know he will have to play a bigger role in the plot, which he does.     Sumpter isn't much more than a pretty girl who is inevitably taken prisoner by Omar, played by Fishburne, who looks like he spent a lot of his crime earnings eating at buffets.    (Cheap shot, I know).

Since the film is PG-13, there aren't any four-letter or twelve-letter swear words thrown about, which is refreshing.     Ride Along isn't awful, just very by-the numbers aimed at an audience that doesn't want to think much.     Unfortunately, that same audience won't laugh much either.