Ride (1998)

Director:

Millicent Shelton

Writer (WGA):

Millicent Shelton (written by)

Release Date:

27 March 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

This party makes no stops.

Plot:

A group of young people leave Harlem for a bus trip down to Miami. The voyage starts off with problems...

Plot Keywords:

Hip Hop | Flatulence | One Word Title | Independent Film

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Malik Yoba	...	Poppa
Melissa De Sousa	...	Leta
John Witherspoon	...	Roscoe
Fredro Starr	...	Geronimo
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Bo
Sticky Fingaz	...	Brotha X
Kellie Shanygne Williams	...	Tuesday (as Kellie Williams)
Idalis DeLeon	...	Charity
Julia Garrison	...	Blacké
Guy Torry	...	Indigo
Rueben Asher	...	Casper
The Lady of Rage	...	Peaches
Dartanyan Edmonds	...	Byrd
Downtown Julie Brown	...	Bleau
Luther Campbell	...	Freddy B (as Luther 'Luke' Campbell)

Also Known As:

I-95 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong language including sex-related dialogue.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Germany:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Fleming Island, Florida, USA

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

Film debut of Cedric the Entertainer.

Soundtrack:

The Weekend

The usual collection of black caricatures in an unfunny road movie

Growing up with BET and MTV, Leta plans to become a music video director but in a world where women are little more than sex objects, she winds up as an underpaid assistant in a record company. Her first job is to take a group of young artists from Harlem to Miami. However tight producer Freddie B decides that the group will be going by coach and Leta is warned not to f**k it up in anyway. Of course Leta's middle-class up bringing doesn't prepare her for the challenges of the group – particularly when Geronimo boards the bus having stolen money from a pair of notorious gangsters.

Opening with some swipes at hip hop clichés, I wondered if maybe this film would be smarter than the rather generic title sequence suggested. Such hopes were short lived though as the film rapidly slide into the obvious black clichés, sexual and crude humour and a plot that is little more than a series of sketches strung together into a sort of road movie. That it isn't funny is pretty much a given but to be honest lots of people paid to see Soul Plane so clearly there is a market for this type of thing. Some will find it amusing then but mostly the parade of lazy black caricatures are pretty offensive – one minute it is having Poppa talking about his aspirations for his kids, next we have the bus being as uplifting as a Jerry Springer audience.

The cast are poor regardless of the material. Yoba is a hard presence but little else while De Sousa is badly out of place with her character and can do nothing. Starr, Fingaz, Shanygne, Torry, Deleon and others all just hood it up in obvious ways. Cameo turns from Cedric the Entertainer, Red Man, Dr Dre, Snoop, Ed Lover, don't do anything other than provide famous faces for the black audience.

Overall then just another puerile and unfunny black comedy that trades on basic humour and racial clichés. The only thing more depressing than the film itself is the fact that some people will think this is a great film.