[yasr_overall_rating]
After he reunites with an old school pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
In the latest buddy comedy to hit the big screen, Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart play old high school classmates who’s lives intersected during once during the senior assembly. Kevin Hart plays popular jock Calvin “The Golden Jet” Joyner, whose last speech as a Central High School Centaur is interrupted by a particularly cruel prank played on the obese and nerdy young Bob Stone. Bob turns up near the time of the 20 year reunion in the form of a much more buff, but still nerdy Dwayne Johnson, who ropes Joyner into a bit of chaotic espionage. While the film itself is a bit of a mess, Johnson and Hart deliver hefty comic performances.
Hart plays the older Joyner as a disappointed middle ager who’s failed to realize his full potential after having been voted “Most Likely to Succeed” as a senior. He tones down his normal bombastic personality for most of the film, allowing Joyner room to vent his frustrations at his situation in well-chosen moments. He gives Joyner a sympathetic personality in place of his typically nasal and annoying turn. In effect, he is the straight man to Johnson’s goofy intelligence agent. This should give anyone who’s seen either actor a clue to how odd and surprisingly funny Johnson is in his role as Stone. It’s a comic performance that transcends his work in drama or previous comedies, and you’ll remember it long after you leave the theater. His facial expressions and mannerisms are so earnest that even his most cringe-worthy scenes bring full-throated laughter. He shows expert comic timing and matches Hart step for step throughout the movie. Amy Ryan shows standout work as the obsessed agent Harris, who spends the film trying to arrest Stone. Danielle Nicolete is adequate as Joyner’s frustrated wife, Maggie. Once again, Jason Bateman delivers as the snarky bully Trevor, who hasn’t grown up a bit in the 20 years since graduation. Aaron Paul gives a nice cameo as Stone’s former partner, Phil. Together, the cast is good, with Johnson bring on the pain and the laughs with sheer abandon. He and Hart are a perfect fit, and a pairing we’ll hopefully see in future films.
This film, like most buddy comedies, gives an outlandish plot bordering on the absurd. Not that it really matters because the jokes fly fast and furious. While the script drags a bit about two thirds of the way through, the movie stays afloat because so many one-liners carry it. The amount of gun-play and action is kept to three important sections of the film. Because of this, the screenplay by Ike Barinholtz, David Strassen and director Rawson Marshall Thurber allows for time to develop the relationships between Stone and Joyner, and Joyner and his wife. The reward is plenty of fun despite the weirdness going on around them. Thurber’s direction allows Johnson and Hart to really develop their chemistry while guiding the overly plot to its inevitable end.
“Central Intelligence” keeps the laughs coming, which is what audiences expect from a film of its ilk. The fun overtakes the plot early on, but doesn’t subside except in a few places. Its uneven plot doesn’t dampen the laughs at all. Johnson’s performance alone is worth the price of admission.
In theaters now
