'Ride Along 2': Motormouth Kevin Hart drowns it all out - shut up already

I like Kevin Hart. Honestly I do.

But there's nothing quite as painful, psychically scarring, and neurally disruptive as listening to the comedian prattle on nonstop at 100 m.p.h. for a full 95 minutes.

That's exactly what the Philadelphia native does in Ride Along 2, director Tim Story's not-so-scintillating sequel to his equally not-so-great buddy-cop caper from 2014.

Hart makes his entrance about five minutes into the film. He opens his mouth to deliver his first line and doesn't stop until the final credits. He continues to talk through car chases, gun battles, fistfights, cocktail receptions, even a sex scene. He yells, whines, and squeaks, reaching decibels that could kill.

Yes, he's funny. I just wish he'd take a breather once in a while.

He reprises his role in Ride Along 2 as lovable Atlanta goofball Ben Barber, ardent lover of Angela Payton (Tika Sumpter) and sometime friend to her brother, the perpetually frowning bad-boy vice detective James (Ice Cube).

The first film followed James' attempts to scare Ben away from Angela by taking him along on dangerous police missions.

The strategy didn't work: The new film opens a few days before Ben and Angela's wedding. If that weren't bad enough, Ben decided he loved doing police work so much, he had to become a cop himself.

Hart and Cube have wonderful chemistry as they engage in some seriously funny, explosive banter and bickering. Even their occasional moments of harmonious coexistence are tense.

The new film finds them in Miami in pursuit of a supercool, super-studly, superbad guy (Benjamin Bratt), whose genius for evil is matched only by his smooth moves on the dance floor. And Olivia Munn pours herself into ridiculously tight, revealing outfits as a Miami cop who teams up with our Atlanta guys.

Ride Along 2 - propelled by an unintelligent, predictable story line and enough gunplay and explosions to eradicate a small nation - is good for a few belly laughs. But not much more.