“Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson.”
It’s hard for a film to live up to an amazing tagline such as that. While “Central Intelligence” may not ever reach the height of brilliance of its tagline, it does produce a bevy of laugh out loud moments. This is all thanks to the energy and charisma of its two stars, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson & Kevin Hart. The two elevate a subpar script, bouncing off of each other flawlessly. I hope this isn’t the last time the two pair up!
The two stars are brought together in an overwritten story involving insider secrets being pawned off on the black market. Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson) is the CIA agent believed to be in possession of the secrets, and he forcefully recruits his high school alum Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) to crack the data with his “sick” accounting skills. The script, written by Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen, and Rawson Marshall Thurber (who also directed) throws in many curveballs to keep the audience guessing whether Bob is innocent or not, though there’s never really any doubt in one’s mind.
In a buddy cop film like this, the story plays second fiddle to the comedy, and thankfully that area of the script is better written. The screenwriters mine comic gold by flipping the switch and making Bob the bullied kid in high school and Calvin the most popular one. This results in the now buff and dangerous Bob to be a sensitive soul who is incredibly clingy to Calvin, with a lot of the humor being extracted from Calvin’s confusion. Once Bob reveals himself to be a spy, Calvin’s confusion skyrockets and so does the humor.
A majority of the laughs can be attributed to Johnson and Hart, who take admittedly middling material and run with it. It’s not so much that the jokes are bad, but in that they’re laid on too thick. The writers go all in on Bob being a dork, with him loving unicorns, cinnamon waffles, and speaking like Ned Flanders. They also go all in on Calvin being stuck in a rut and suffering from a midlife crisis, with him constantly making self-deprecating remarks. Both actors make the material their own and elicit a lot of laughs.
The best gags come not from the stereotypes, but from their back and forth rapport. One example would be when Bob impersonates a marriage counselor and provides therapy to Calvin and his wife, Maggie (Danielle Nicolet). This is a clichéd gag, but made entertaining through Johnson & Hart’s interactions. At one point Bob pretends to be Maggie, resulting in a slapping match between he and Calvin. Another moment (much earlier in the film) has Bob inappropriately complimenting Calvin, with the latter’s befuddled response being priceless.
The overarching story does get in the way of the humor. Twists and turns are thrown in twenty minute intervals, scrambling the comedic beats. Just as Calvin starts to trust Bob, he reverts back to skepticism. Jokes start to become recycled and the film grows repetitive. Thurber spices things up by having Agent Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) try to reason with and eventually blackmailing Calvin to assist her investigation, in turn allowing Kevin Hart to turn his hyperactive act onto someone else. This, along with the celebrity cameos, only bandages the wound temporarily.
I do have to say that this is the funniest Kevin Hart has ever been in a film! While I like the man, his manic shtick can grow tiresome quickly. Here, Thurber does a fine job in controlling him, with The Rock playing the perfect foil to his madness. The smart decision was in making Bob an even bigger goof than Calvin, that way Hart never comes across as too overbearing. It also helps that he’s in a situation that warrants his erratic behavior.
“Central Intelligence” may not reach the comedic heights that it could’ve, but it boasts two stars who help it reach higher ground.
Final Rating: B