SPOILER-FREE MOVIE REVIEW
Even the slogan on the poster already cracks me up haha.
Central Intelligence is a movie about this undercover agent in the form of Bob Stone (formerly known as Robbie Wheirdicht), played by Dwayne Johnson, who seeks out his former schoolmate Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart), who's now down on his luck after being voted "Most Likely to Succeed" back in High School for help on a mission.
A simple enough premise, right?
Now, I adored the concept of this movie, a story about bullies, being uncomfortable for who you really are, about riding the tidal wave which is fame. It's all very relatable stuff.
Now combine this realness with the total ludicrous nature of Kevin Hart's comedy and Dwayne Johnson's hilarious character, and you get one hell of an entertaining movie.
Let's start with how well the duo worked together. Boy, were they electric.
Both seemed to thrive on playing off of each other, be it in the form of improvised lines or just plain slapping of each others faces. Those two worked so well together.
On one hand, you have Dwayne Johnson, who despite being so badly stereotyped in all his movies as that typical badass gun-toting killing machine actually surprised me for his ability to do comedy.
His character was really interesting as we see how he journeys and evolves from being a total loser to this badass CIA agent who still has that essence of his "loser-self" in him.
No longer is he the wrestler-turned-actor. I dare say that he's finally proven himself very capable in the acting business.
As for Kevin Hart, well, what can I say. The man is probably my favourite comedian of the past decade.
I never used to like his brand of comedy because I felt that he just used his petite size to be funny. After watching some of his stand-up though, I started finding him bloody hilarious.
Hart is side-splittingly funny in Central Intelligence, and not only were his lines (both scripted and ad-libbed) relevantly hilarious, but his mannerisms and body language all make for some quality comedy.
I have such great respect for comedic actors who can mix their joke-telling ability with physical comedy. It is no easy feat, and Kevin Hart is a master of the trade.
As for the rest of the cast, they were all okay.
I especially liked Jason Bateman as a figure from Bob Stone's past, Trevor. It's rare to see Bateman play a total jerk and a complete douchebag, as he's normally the guy who plays the intelligent, sophisticated mild-mannered man.
It was refreshing to see him being a total dick, even if it meant I was the only one laughing in the cinema as it was a huge asshole move that he did.
I mentioned how the movie's premise was really simple earlier - and I feel that that is recommended for a comedy movie such as this.
By keeping things simple, it allows for more room to make jokes and to develop these characters more. The jokes don't feel deliberate as well, meaning that the jokes were built-up to instead of just plonking in a random gag to make people laugh (although some of the latter was used to great effect).
I also really liked all the pop culture references the characters made as they were so relevant and at times so savage that I laughed so hard at them.
Towards the 3/4 mark, however, the story starts getting a bit too messy where they try and add some odd twists in an attempt to make the story more compelling.
I felt that the twists were unnecessary and out-of-place, and it almost feels as if they were trying too hard to make the climax of the movie more serious than it should have been in a COMEDY film.
On a technical level, well, some of the CGI used was really cheesy and fake. Thankfully, not much CGI went into the movie so it didn't take me out of the picture for long.
The direction was fairly simple, and pretty much any competent director would have done the job right (unless you're Brett Ratner or Michael Bay).
All in all, Central Intelligence was a fun time without being groundbreaking.
It definitely had its side-splitting moments and I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
The comedy is quality, the acting was all good and the chemistry between the two leads was brilliant.
I'd definitely recommend you watch it if you just want to spend two hours well by laughing till your tummy hurts.
6.5/10.
Central Intelligence is a movie about this undercover agent in the form of Bob Stone (formerly known as Robbie Wheirdicht), played by Dwayne Johnson, who seeks out his former schoolmate Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart), who's now down on his luck after being voted "Most Likely to Succeed" back in High School for help on a mission.
A simple enough premise, right?
Now, I adored the concept of this movie, a story about bullies, being uncomfortable for who you really are, about riding the tidal wave which is fame. It's all very relatable stuff.
Now combine this realness with the total ludicrous nature of Kevin Hart's comedy and Dwayne Johnson's hilarious character, and you get one hell of an entertaining movie.
Let's start with how well the duo worked together. Boy, were they electric.
Both seemed to thrive on playing off of each other, be it in the form of improvised lines or just plain slapping of each others faces. Those two worked so well together.
On one hand, you have Dwayne Johnson, who despite being so badly stereotyped in all his movies as that typical badass gun-toting killing machine actually surprised me for his ability to do comedy.
His character was really interesting as we see how he journeys and evolves from being a total loser to this badass CIA agent who still has that essence of his "loser-self" in him.
No longer is he the wrestler-turned-actor. I dare say that he's finally proven himself very capable in the acting business.
As for Kevin Hart, well, what can I say. The man is probably my favourite comedian of the past decade.
I never used to like his brand of comedy because I felt that he just used his petite size to be funny. After watching some of his stand-up though, I started finding him bloody hilarious.
Hart is side-splittingly funny in Central Intelligence, and not only were his lines (both scripted and ad-libbed) relevantly hilarious, but his mannerisms and body language all make for some quality comedy.
I have such great respect for comedic actors who can mix their joke-telling ability with physical comedy. It is no easy feat, and Kevin Hart is a master of the trade.
As for the rest of the cast, they were all okay.
I especially liked Jason Bateman as a figure from Bob Stone's past, Trevor. It's rare to see Bateman play a total jerk and a complete douchebag, as he's normally the guy who plays the intelligent, sophisticated mild-mannered man.
It was refreshing to see him being a total dick, even if it meant I was the only one laughing in the cinema as it was a huge asshole move that he did.
I mentioned how the movie's premise was really simple earlier - and I feel that that is recommended for a comedy movie such as this.
By keeping things simple, it allows for more room to make jokes and to develop these characters more. The jokes don't feel deliberate as well, meaning that the jokes were built-up to instead of just plonking in a random gag to make people laugh (although some of the latter was used to great effect).
I also really liked all the pop culture references the characters made as they were so relevant and at times so savage that I laughed so hard at them.
Towards the 3/4 mark, however, the story starts getting a bit too messy where they try and add some odd twists in an attempt to make the story more compelling.
I felt that the twists were unnecessary and out-of-place, and it almost feels as if they were trying too hard to make the climax of the movie more serious than it should have been in a COMEDY film.
On a technical level, well, some of the CGI used was really cheesy and fake. Thankfully, not much CGI went into the movie so it didn't take me out of the picture for long.
The direction was fairly simple, and pretty much any competent director would have done the job right (unless you're Brett Ratner or Michael Bay).
All in all, Central Intelligence was a fun time without being groundbreaking.
It definitely had its side-splitting moments and I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
The comedy is quality, the acting was all good and the chemistry between the two leads was brilliant.
I'd definitely recommend you watch it if you just want to spend two hours well by laughing till your tummy hurts.
6.5/10.
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