Ride [2018] is the feature debut of writer/director Jeremy Ungar. Starring Jessie T. Usher, Will Brill, and Bella Thorne, Ride follows an Uber driver who gets caught up with a manipulative passenger and ends up going on the opposite of a relaxing night drive.
A Stranger Is Just A Friend You Haven’t Met Yet. The premise revolves around Chris, an Uber driver essentially, who picks up hottie Jessica as his first fair of the night. They hit it off but he ends up skimping out on an invitation to drinks to continue his night of work. He eventually picks up Bruno, a guy that’s charismatic and super easy to like, but who tends to waver into a vague and questionable air. As the night unfurls Chris and Bruno buddy up to unknown destinations as Bruno eggs the driver to keep taking him from here to there as he figures out what to do after having allegedly been dumped. What feels like an exceptional night full of possibilities takes a sharp turn down nightmare street.
Collateral for the Uber Age. Obviously taking notes from the film that first successfully used digital cameras to make a look, Ride excels at keeping the night drive through Los Angeles looking sleek and sexy. Everything is well lit, street lights are blown out, and everything just looks slick as hell. The music used through the majority of the film does a great job of supporting the dialogue and keeping the momentum rolling, though the writing does fine enough with that itself. The performances are all really great, without any missteps anywhere. With a film like this it really is all about the writing and performances, and despite an arguably iffy ending, the whole thing holds together really well. It’s short and brisk, clocking in under 80 minutes, but the story works in favor of a runtime that never overstays its welcome.
Ride is slick, sharp, short and sweet.
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