Terrible Kevin Hart Movie Is a Big Hit on Netflix

A poorly-received comedy is actually doing well right now on Netflix, proving that sometimes movies just need time to find the right audience. Ride Along starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube debuted in 2014 and earned a dismal 18 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes. At the time of this writing, it is the number 3 movie on Netflix in the U.S.

Ride Along was a long time in the making – originally written by Greg Coolidge, then re-written by actor and comedian Jason Mantzoukas, then re-written yet again by Matt Manfedi and Phil Hay for the final script. It passed through two other studios before landing at Universal Pictures, which hired Tim Story to direct. The movie stars Ice Cube as undercover Atlanta detective James Payton and Hart as Ben Barber, the boyfriend of James’ sister who gets wrapped up in his crime-fighting adventure.

The setup is that Ben wants to prove to James that he is worthy of marrying Angela Payton (Tika Sumpter). Ben works as a security guard, and figures that he can hang in there for a police ride along to prove himself to James. It just so happens that during this brief period, James finally catches up with an arms dealer he has been looking for, Omar (Laurence Fishburne). The action-comedy finds Ben biting off much more than he can chew.

The movie got generally poor reviews from the start – on Rotten Tomatoes, its average score was 4.2 out of 10, with a critical consensus reading: “Kevin Hart’s livewire presence gives Ride Along a shot of necessary energy, but it isn’t enough to rescue this would-be comedy from the buddy-cop doldrums.” On MetaCritic, the average score was even lower at 41 out of 100.

Still, the movie got more middling reception from casual viewers and it did get a BET Award nomination, two MTV Movie Award nominations, and four Teen Choice Award nominations, as well as a win for Hart. The movie was even commercially successful and it got a sequel, released in 2016.

This is not the first time an out-of-date movie with generally negative reviews took a spontaneous leap to the top of Netflix’s charts. There are so many factors that could contribute to this kind of climb in the age of streaming that it is hard to speculate about the cause. However, social media commenters often joke that it reflects poorly on the selection at Netflix rather than reflecting well on the movies themselves. Ride Along is streaming now on Netflix for those interested.