Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are two of the most charming men working in Hollywood today and seeing them crack wise off each other was always going to be great. It’s a shame they’ve gotten together for such a tired story with so many average jokes, but this is a very inoffensive film that is easy to enjoy.
Comedies in which a person is a secret agent that takes their unsuspecting co-star on a zany fish-out-of-water action adventure are extremely tired. The chance of inventiveness coming from this set-up is like the chance of Adam Sandler making a good movie. This one is a bromance rather than a romance and throws in that the badass secret agent was a fat loser in high school, whereas his buddy was the coolest teen in town who grew into a bit of a nobody.
Johnson in a CG fat suit thankfully isn’t a joke for very long, as the trailer led me to fear, but some of the gags are just as poor. Having them delivered by Johnson and Hart does give everything an often amusing, always endearing quality, and a good deal of it is genuinely funny. The diverse references are highly pleasing, from Road House to 16 Candles to Breaking Bad to Goodfellas. There’s also a bunch of references to Johnson’s history, from Hercules to Vin Diesel to ‘The Rock’ and even his love of the bum bag. Sprinkled on top is a solid soundtrack, with highlights from the Notorious B.I.G., Blur, En Vogue and Drake.
The anti-bullying message is pretty cool, if a bit muddled, but the best thing about Central Intelligence is definitely the chemistry of its two leads. The blooper reel played over the end credits is one of the best bits and shows clearly just how genuine that chemistry was.
‘Central Intelligence’ Movie Times
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