I hated the trailer for Central Intelligence. It set up this buffoonish scenario mocking the comedic abilities of Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. After watching the movie, the trailer focuses too heavily on the over-the-top stuff, but is still a reasonable facsimile of the experience of watching Central Intelligence….sigh.
Calvin “Golden Jet” Joyner (Kevin Hart) was the valedictorian up and comer in Central High School in the 1996. He married his high school sweetheart Nicole (Danielle Nicolet), took an accounting job…and did nothing else for 20 years. Then out of the blue, he gets a message from Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson), aka Robby Wierdich, the bullied kid from high school. Bob actually has 180’d into a CIA agent, on the run from Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) and the rest of the CIA who think he’s the bad guy, and Bob needs Calvin to account him back into good graces.
The movie tries too hard to “keep us guessing.” It’s evident from the start that Bob and Calvin are earnest men, and they are not capable of double crossing in an evil way. However, each new scene has Calvin question Bob’s commitment, and after a while, it just gets repetitive. There are also some extremely questionable logic leaps by both Bob and Calvin. Bob’s choices make sense because of character development, but Calvin’s escalating heroism is too cartoony to take seriously. In addition, Calvin’s story is very by-the-numbers, and has no take on the forlorn high school celebrity. Let’s face it: people aren’t seeing Central Intelligence for its plot.
They’re there for Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Those two are great playing off of each other, and bringing out what makes both of them funny…I just wish the script were a little better. Hart successfully acts exasperated and uses his manic energy to deliver one punchline after the other. Hart’s thing is funny regardless of rating; the audience ate him up a lot. Personally, I grew a lot as a fan of Dwayne Johnson, thespian. Johnson’s angle into Bob Stone is very similar to his Pain & Gain character. Outwardly weird but very loving, Stone also has this inner turmoil that he looks like he is waging war with himself, a testament to Johnson’s acting. While the audience laughs at Hart’s punchlines, I was laughing at Johnson’s character, and the brilliant setups via character development he gives the talented Hart.
This will sound like an insult, but I assure you it is not; Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart make Central Intelligence passable entertainment. With a weak script and mediocre punchlines, Central Intelligence uses the duo and their amazing charisma and chemistry to deliver more laughs then they had any right to. Seriously, how do you get some amazing cameos like this movie gets and generate maybe one laugh from them? Thanks Mr. Hart and Mr. Johnson, for making me not furious about this fact.