‘Ride’: Fine Acting, Forgettable Text

The only problem with the current production at 2nd Stage of Randall Wheatley’s mildly comedic ditty about a pair of estranged brothers on a road trip to retrieve their father’s corpse is the script. “Along For the Ride” is two acts’ worth of bickering and bantering about childhood recriminations, plus a dose of dead body shtick.

Aptly nerdy Bryan W. Simon plays the kid brother who works in a paint store, opposite Matt K. Miller as his former ballplayer big brother. Their comic timing is right on, thanks to Paul Fagan’s deft direction. But all the staging panache on Hollywood’s Theater Row couldn’t keep us interested in such an eminently forgettable text.

Best is the venerable Douglas D. Smith’s snazzy production design: a big red convertible, complete with working doors, seats and headlights, surrounded by a backdrop that suggests the Montana mountains. Ray J. Hanneffant is sturdy as the stiff.

* “Along for the Ride,” 2nd Stage, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Sunday. $10. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 2 hours.