Movie Review - Central Intelligence

Central Intelligence **½ (out of 5) (PG-13) Many madcap comedies have used the premise of some wild and crazy guy roping an average Joe into some sort of manic crime or espionage adventure. Among the best of these was Peter Falk and Alan Arkin’s 1979 The In-Laws; among the worst was its re-make with Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas nearly 25 years later. This pairing of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with Kevin Hart falls somewhere in the middle.

In high school, the former was a chubby nerd, while the latter was Mr. Everything. Ten years later, Hart is wallowing in a dead-end office job, while the former easy target has morphed into the mass of muscles we’ve come to know. He pops up to ask Hart for some help, seeming to be quite the inner doofus despite the external upgrades. We soon learn that The Rock has become a CIA agent, who is either a traitor on the run from his agency, or a misunderstood hero trying to save the day and clear his name.

The diminutive Hart’s stock in trade has been playing nervous natterers that can be hilarious or tiresome, depending on the rest of the cast and script. He’s like the Black counterpart to Joe Pesci’s Leo Getz from the Lethal Weapon movies. For once, he’s the straight man! Whatever mission The Rock is working, he’s still carrying the insecurity scars of his teen years, which show up in some amusing and fairly touching ways. For lightweight summer silliness, this one’s a safe bet. The "intelligence" is in the title, not the screenplay. Fans of these guys and the genre know what to expect, and they deliver it. (6/17/16)