Review of Central Intelligence (2016) by Kimmie O — 17 Aug 2016

"Despite a convoluted plot, "Central Intelligence" benefits from the dynamic chemistry between Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson".

Movie Review: Central Intelligence.

Date Viewed: June 22 2016.

Directed By Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and We're the Millers).

Screenplay By Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen and Rawson Marshall Thurber, Story By Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen.

Starring: Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Amy Ryan, Aaron Paul, Danielle Nicolet, Timothy John Smith, Ryan Hansen, Megan Park and Thomas Kretschmann.

Kevin Hart has accomplished an impossible mission, making a good movie. Actually, co-star Dwayne Johnson does most of the heavy lifting for him in this light-hearted spy comedy. Hart was funny in "About Last Night" (2014) and the first "Think Like a Man" movie but he has since been making one bad movie choice after another. Despite the convoluted plot, Hart and Johnson deliver great comedic chemistry together.

From the director who gave us "Dodgeball" and "We're the Millers", "Central Intelligence" first takes us to 1996 where popular high school senior, Calvin Joyner (Hart) gets recognized for an award at a pep rally. Suddenly, an obese geek named Robbie Wheirdicht (Johnson) gets thrown into the school gym completely naked by mean bullies and the entire school laughs at him. Robbie gets brutally scarred for life but he gets an act of kindness from Calvin. He gives him his school jacket to cover his private parts and Robbie leaves in total embarrassment.

20 years later, Calvin is now married to his long-time girlfriend, Maggie (Danielle Nicolet) but he is stuck with a cruddy accountant job. Robbie Wheirdicht dramatically lost 300 pounds and is now a top CIA operative. After receiving a friend request on Facebook from somebody named Bob Stone, Calvin meets up with Robbie and he is shocked about his dramatic weight loss. What Calvin doesn't know is that Bob Stone is actually Robbie's undercover CIA name. After a great night with his old high school buddy, a group of CIA agents show up at Calvin's house and question him about Bob Stone's whereabouts. CIA head Pam Harris (Amy Ryan) tells Calvin that Stone is a dangerous rogue operative and he allegedly murdered his partner, Phil (Aaron Paul).

Being hunted down by his former colleagues, Robbie shows up at Calvin's office and convinces him to team up with him on his special mission but he thinks he has gone way over the line. Calvin thinks or doesn't think that Robbie is the Black Badger, a Macguffin-named deadly operative who plans on selling satellite codes to high bidders such as dangerous criminals.

The screenplay isn't up to Hart and Johnson's standards but "Central Intelligence" benefits from their dynamic chemistry. Johnson delivers most of the laughs here in a charming performance as a bullied geek who became a deadly CIA agent. Hart gets some laughs here and there but I want to see him in a comedic role where he truly delivers. What truly resonated with me is the movie's anti-bullying message. Being dragged into a school gym completely naked is enough to make any high school geek to commit suicide but the act of kindness from Kevin Hart's character is genuinely moving and sweet.

Don't get me wrong, it is formulaic and predictable but "Central Intelligence" is a buddy action-comedy that gets the job done.