Agents presque secrets

Central Intelligence sees a high school fat kid Rob Wierdich who is humiliated at his last day in school being transformed into muscular but timid Rob Stone (Dwayne Johnson) who is now a CIA operative.

Twenty years later and with a high school reunion on the horizon Stone hooks up with Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) the star student known as the Golden Jet and the only one who came to Wierdich's aid. Joyner's career as an accountant has not been as stellar that high school promised but Stone wants to use his skills to decrypt some financial transactions. The agency thinks that Stone has gone rogue and are out to get him.

This is essentially a buddy action comedy. Hart is actually the straight man, leaving the light goofy comedy to Johnson. They make a good team but the plot is too formulaic and unadventurous. Still the offbeat characterisation from Hart and Johnson makes this film amusing enough.

Forget about the formulaic spies plot and its flaws, the film does not look silly for the wise decision of making it into a comedy and it sparks thanks to the strong rapport between Johnson and Hart. The thriller may seems to be dumb and lack of inventiveness in all the right ways but it is also a bit smarter than what audiences could have expected. The hilarious but not nonsense actions, sweet high- school buddies friendships, comedy about bullies and inspiration to transform a better oneself however are all blended well into this lack-of-originality thriller; though insufficient to generate big humors, it is still able to keep your smile till the end. The film centralises on the delightful chemistry between the two actors, both Hart and Johnson deliver a cheerful bromantic, especially the latter who takes his character and silliness seriously other than just knowing to flex muscles. It might lack in depth to explain about the quest of the mission but it is overall entertaining due to the commitment of the cast to bring us laughter.

Recently a lot of Kevin Hart's movies have been pretty lack luster. The Ride Along movies and Get Hard were shredded by critics. When I saw the trailer for Central Intelligence, I thought this would be just another one of those flicks. Thankfully, I was very wrong! The page here lists the film as an "action, comedy, crime" movie but really it is more of a "action, comedy, drama" flick. Dwayne Johnson plays the gentle giant Bob Stone/Robby Weirdicht (haha pun) who works for the CIA while Kevin Hart plays the everyday joe Calvin Joyner (a nice change of pace in my opinion). These two are the reason this film works as pure entertainment. They have great chemistry together and they play rather interesting characters. Robby is on the same level as Jason Bourne when it comes to hand to hand combat and other spy stuff like that but he has the sensitivity and the tastes of a fourteen year old girl. I don't care who you are, you have to admit that's hilarious. Calvin was the favorite student of his high school but now he is just a washed up accountant upset with where his life has gone. Hart and Johnson bring some real comedy to their roles as well as true conviction. You can believe that these two are dealing with some real emotional problems. I never thought of either of them as good actors but they do a splendid job here. The stunts they pull also look so very realistic. They are very thrilling and pretty creative too. Now the movie isn't without problems-what movie is? The spy portion of the plot is pretty straight forward and shallow. It's obviously just an excuse to get these two together but is that really such a bad thing when what they are offering is so good? Central Intelligence is kind of like that movie Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito. Two popular actors play as comic foils to one another as well as provide great drama with some cool stunts thrown in. What more could you want?

When a film has a tagline as witty and sharp as Central Intelligence's – "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. True enough, this film is an excuse to have Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart play delightfully silly characters amidst a fairly disposable plot. 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.

In Central Intelligence, Johnson plays a formerly morbidly obese high school student named Robbie Wierdicht (yes, it's pronounced as Weird Dick, hah!) who was subjected to a horribly cruel prank twenty years ago. He now resurfaces as Bob Stone, a herculean CIA agent who decides to reunite with his only friend in high school, Calvin "The Golden Jet" Joyner (Hart) — back then Central High's "most likely to succeed" student. Ironically, he is now living an unexceptional adult life as a mid-level accountant stuck in a rocky marriage. Little does Calvin know, what started as a mysterious Facebook friend request to a casual catch-up is Stone's silent attempt to enlist Calvin as his unwilling sidekick in a deadly mission to track down stolen U.S. satellite codes and stop a wanted kingpin called the "Black Badger" from obtaining them.

In his previous comedies (Ride Along and Get Hard), Hart is often portrayed as a fast- talking shtick at the center of attention. In this film, We're The Miller's director Rawson Marshall Thurber, who co- wrote the script with Bob Fisher and Steve Faber, breaks this stereotype by subduing Hart to a serious straight-up role and giving the goofy prankster role to Johnson (responsible for pulling off most of the verbal and physical gags). The role reversal works with the slapstick comedy thanks to both actors' exhilarating chemistry and sharp performance. Their size juxtaposition alone is a joke in itself. "Pint-sized" squeaky-voiced Hart, with all his outbursts and babbling, mixes panic and rage probably better than any actor. As for Johnson, he keeps up with expectations here whether by simply donning fanny packs, unicorn t-shirts, and uber-tight pajamas; or flaunting his cartoonish manliness against a character who is surprisingly sensitive and still embarrassed with his past. Central Intelligence is given more depth when it deals with our main characters' high school baggage – Calvin's frustration on his life turning not the way he expected, and Bob's self-esteem issues due to the serious and lasting effects of bullying.

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 Central Intelligence is hard to dislike because Johnson and Hart shine perfectly in their roles and hence, elevate this film from subpar to moderately enjoyable. Without them, this film will be as useful as a bag of rocks. That being said, Central Intelligence can be a good distraction during a hot summer day.

Now I will state from the start that Kevin Hart as a comedian has never appealed to me and so therefore that also translates into his films having never been intrigued enough to go see one of his (some of the critical receptions bare this out) but this is obviously where that trend ends for me.

In this 'mismatched' buddy action comedy both Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson seem to have stumbled upon some fabulous comedic chemistry that I most certainly didn't see coming.

Having stated my indifference earlier to Kevin Hart I am at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to Dwayne Johnson, a man, an actor who probably shouldn't be as successful as he is...yet I can't resist his charms, there is just something inherently likable about the man as an on screen presence and as an actor in general and that is no different here.

Quick plot synopsis now, flashback to high school, Hart is Mr. Popular, Johnson is the school joke, flash-forward twenty years to the present day where after a social media inspired meetup if would appear maybe that now the two have switched places in life (quite a common story arc) and what may also be certainly more concerning for Hart is the fact that Johnson may appear to be a spy on the run, so ensues a parade of nifty chase sequences some rather inspired and choreographed escape fighting scenes interspersed of course with Hart chipping in with comedic observations of their currently absurd predicament. There is in particular a scene where Johnson has replaced the role of a therapist who is about to give marriage counsel to Hart and his wife and it is extremely funny.

This should not of entertained me as much as it did and trust me I am as surprised as anyone that it got many laughs out of me, it certainly does remind me in parts to 21 Jump Street, what I mean by that is it being a nice comedic surprise of a film that has the laughs but actually does in part also have a heart in place, or as the brilliant marketing department said on the films tagline and posters 'It takes a little Hart and a big Johnson' just superb.

I was a little concerned after the films opening which I mentioned earlier is a flashback to high school where we see the rather unsubtle face of Johnson transposed onto the head and body of a rather overweight kid but the film got out of that just pure weird territory quicker than expected, yes not every joke hits the mark but the success to failure rate is amply way on the positive side of things and the pace and action is brisk enough that it never overstays its welcome which is very surprising given the near two hour feature length running time.

But I suppose the main question that does have to be asked though is 'who is the Black Badger' maybe I'm the Black Badger, as Thomas Kretschmann brilliantly puts it.

So it's not particularly going to change the comedic landscape out there but it more than succeeds in keeping you very entertained throughout mainly thanks to the great comedic chemistry that Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson bring to the party.