Synopsis – After he reconnects with an awkward pal from high school through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
My Take – When a film has a tagline as witty and sharp as this – ‘Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson’— something tells me that the producers came up with that pun first and decided to commission a script around it after. Dwayne Johnson is literally the most profitable movie star on the planet and Kevin Hart is the biggest name in comedy right now as a result I was sold into this dynamic long before the movie was released and I’m down for plenty more collaborations. Unfortunately, the against-type characters they play get lost in a spy story that takes itself a tad too seriously. Still, there are significant amount of scenes where laughter is secured by sheer timely body language and jokes alone. But in the end It really doesn’t matter because you won’t see this film for a complex plot, you’ll see this film for some good laughs. The hit-to-miss ratio is surprisingly higher than you expect. A rare action comedy that delivers both hilarity and heart-in-mouth moments, this genre-hopping tale’s solidity is down to its central pairing. Separated by a foot and 100 pounds, director Rawson Marshall Thurber‘s (Dodgeball, We’re the Millers) tale finds Hart & Johnson in inspired form as they essentially trade places between the goof and the straight man. The story follows Calvin “Golden Jet” Joyner (Kevin Hart), once voted student president and most likely to succeed at his Maryland High School, is now a mid level forensic accountant who finds himself being passed over for promotion. Despite being married to his high-school sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet), Calvin is so disappointed with his life that he’ll do anything to avoid attending his 20-year high school reunion. However, as the days tick down to that event, he’s unexpectedly contacted by the one classmate who will never lose faith in him, Bob Stone aka Robbie Weirdicht (Dwayne Johnson), who was the victim of a horrific prank that left him exposed in front of the whole school. Back then, only Calvin came to his rescue. Now the once chubby overweight Robbie is now a muscle-packed beefcake who likes ‘unicorns, guns, cinnamon pancakes and the film Sixteen Candles. But Bob’s appearance isn’t a coincidence or a social call, he needs Calvin’s “special set of skills” to help him unlock some files – files that put them both in the cross-hairs of the CIA, who Bob claims to work for, and the dreaded unknown “Black Badger”.
If you were reading the description for the film and automatically thought ‘this sounds like fun’ then you probably won’t be disappointed by this action comedy.It’s a movie you kind of have to meet halfway as far as shutting down your brain and activating your funny-bone. But once you get there you won’t be disappointed. Even though nearly every element feels familiar in this action comedy , from the gun play bonding to the stolen U.S. satellite codes plot line. But for a film, starring the huge frame of Dwayne Johnson and the huge mouth of Kevin Hart, it succeeds on its admittedly meager ambitions because of the productive dynamic between the two leads and a surprisingly honest appreciation of how teenage ups and downs linger into adulthood. From an extended shootout at Calvin’s office that ends with Bob and Calvin crashing through the eleventh floor window onto a giant gorilla inflatable below, to a CIA safe house where Calvin springs Bob from custody, to an underground parking garage where Bob comes face to face with his nemesis, director Rawson Marshall Thurber stages the action with surprising élan, emphasizing Johnson’s swift and lethal moves as well as Hart‘s barely controlled hysteria at every turn. Yet because Johnson and Hart have performed similar shtick in previous roles, the real fun is in watching the two actors play against each other in quieter and more intimate scenes, such as a couples’ therapy session between Calvin and his wife which Bob crashes by pretending to be their therapist. The jokes are broad and occasionally go on too long but they are still reliably funny. In fact, between Keanu (2016), Ride Along 2 (2016) and Zoolander 2 (2016), this one is hands down the funniest film coming out of the buddy comedy sub-genre this year. I realized when compared to the aforementioned that’s not the strongest endorsement. What makes this film a cut-above the banal helpings of gauche odd couple movies and Martin Lawrence vehicles is the themes of its screenplay. Scribes Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen build a opposites annoy scenario out of a very universal desire to become extraordinary.”I really thought I was going to change the world,” Calvin says grimly to Bob while walking the halls of his Alma mater. Much like the film’s themes, the success of the film also relies on our two charming leads. Kevin Hart plays against-type as the straight man to Johnson‘s farcical antics. You’re not really sure if Johnson‘s pony obsessing, geeking out to 80’s movies and all around light stalker-ish behavior is all an elaborate ruse but his gleeful acceptance of the role he’s given is downright endearing. He slips seamlessly from a gawky fruitcake, to badass beefcake all the while teaching Calvin a few lessons about appreciating what you have and who you are along the way. It is in scenes such as this that the sheer chemistry between Johnson and Hart shines through. Director Thurber, plays against his audience’s expectation by letting the usually motor-mouthed Hart play the straight man and Johnson be the unhinged man-child responsible for the verbal and physical shenanigans. Don’t get me wrong, the exhausting espionage plot struggles to have any shred of intelligence to it. It is quite perfunctory to the point that it might as well fade into a background noise. It even falls apart to utter nonsense by the end when the plot twist is revealed and judging by their focus on comedy, the filmmakers seems to be fine leaving the plot holes unpatched. Neither are the villains written with deep thought as they are all cardboard bad guys who are homophobes, bullies, mercenaries or a combination thereof. Apart from the comedy itself, the film apologizes in its shortcomings by boasting a roster of cameos that I’ll leave unmentioned for the sake of surprise. You can groan at its dumb plot, get antsy over action scenes where no one (not even trained CIA gunmen) can shoot straight or frown at Calvin and Stone whispering strategies whilst pointed with guns, but the film is hard to dislike because Johnson and Hart shine perfectly in their roles and hence, elevate this film from sub par to moderately enjoyable.
Director Rawson Marshall Thurber doesn’t stage the action sequences to capitalize on Johnson‘s physical grace or humor, but he does define the two leads by the comic potential of their regrets. Bob’s a James Bond with no social skills, a nerd with giant biceps and zero friends who’s stoked to be hanging with the high school king, even though Calvin is depressed at how his unassuming life in the suburbs has turned out. For a film like this, it’s of great importance that they get two leads who are both likable and share a chemistry that makes the film work. The film also has a tendency to be overly predictable. Right from the get-go there are certain scenes that you know will come back to have an impact on the story in exactly the way you would think, and they do. Again, predictability doesn’t always mean a fault, but when the film isn’t all that great to begin with, it can be bothersome. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching the film for its choice to take two good actors and flip their personalities, but I can’t deny some of the action-comedy tropes it falls into. Providing a terrific platform for former WWE wrestler Johnson to showcase his comedic timing and 1000-watt smile, the film also plays on both his action abilities (in one terrific office-set sequence he uses a coffee pot, toner cartridge and banana as weapons) and nice-guy persona (by keeping the audience guessing as to who exactly he’s double-crossing until the very end). Kevin Hart is excellent in creating reactions and gestures. He is always at his best when he teams up with screenplays with just one other leading role. The Ride Along films, Get Hard & The Wedding Ringer are his most noteworthy work so far that has left us with aching sides from laughter. The liveliness that he brings and his motor mouth is right up where it should be. Dwayne Johnson who has featured in more roles in the past years than Hart plays off this energy and is ridiculously entertaining. The ability of the A-Listers to play off against each others energy is what distracts the audience from the weak screenplay. This to me is greatest part of the movie. They are in sync and no one overpowers the other with their performances. Amy Ryan is the only other actor who has a significant screen space apart from Rock and Hart and she is okay as the stern faced CIA agent. Danielle Nicolet is likable. Aaron Paul makes an exciting guest appearance as Johnson‘s former partner. On the whole, ‘Central Intelligence’ is a comedy that will leave you entertained, with its hilarity and natural chemistry between Hart and Johnson.
