Movie Review: Central Intelligence
When I saw the trailer for Central Intelligence, I was psyched about it - I love Kevin Hart's movies and The Rock is always great too, so I figured that any movie starring them both would be hilarious. Although some scenes were funny, I unfortunately checked my watch a few times during this film, and it could have been much better than it actually was.
The movie opens in 1996 as Calvin Joyner (Hart) receives an award in front of the entire student body and his fellow soon-to-be-graduating senior class. However, bullies have grabbed obese Robbie Weirdicht (Hart) from the gym shower, and they throw him naked into the gym, to be ridiculed in front of everyone. Calvin quickly gives Robbie his varsity jacket, to cover himself, and Robbie escapes from the gym.
Twenty years later, Calvin is working at a job that he's good at, but dislikes (an accountant), and is married to his high school sweetheart, Maggie (Danielle Nicolet). Maggie wants to attend their 20 year high school reunion with Calvin, but he's on the fence about it; the reunion is coming up that week. Calvin receives a Facebook friend request from someone named Bob Stone, and he accepts; Bob then wants to meet him for drinks. When Calvin shows up, he sees it's actually Robbie (The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson), who has definitely slimmed down and is all muscle now. After some drinks, Bob asks Calvin if he can help him with an accounting problem he has, and that puts in motion a series of events which finds Calvin way out of his comfort zone.
Hart and Johnson were funny here; I think it was more the script that needs some reworking, though I'll admit that the beginning and the end of the film had quite a lot of laughs. There were also a few cameos that I did not see coming, including one at the end which was fantastic; her and one other man are not listed in the IMDb roster for the movie, so I won't spoil their cameos by listing them here. Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) also has a small part in this movie, as a former CIA partner of Bob's, and although we don't see him that much, it was nice to see him back on the big screen again.
Maybe see this film. If you're looking for a comedy to see, it's slim pickings right now, so this isn't the worst choice ever; however, I'd recommend saving it to watch on Blu-ray or as a Redbox rental. The film could have been much better than it was, but it does have some fun action scenes, and Hart and Johnson have good chemistry together here, despite the lacking script. I'm sure the movie will do well at the box office, too, solely based off its star power, and I wouldn't be surprised if a follow-up movie is made, since the film leaves itself open to a sequel near the end.
Central Intelligence is in theaters today, June 17th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 114 minutes. 2.5 stars out of 5.
