Review: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

Not Really Intelligent, But Lots of Laughter!

2.5 stars

Mini Review:

If you think getting shot in the butt is funny, and find physical comedy a lark, then you might just find the action-packed madness of Central Intelligence really funny. Fans of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson will be happy to see him in a role that is actually endearing. And his reluctant partner Kevin Hart makes for a funny hostage. The movie goes around in circles, and although you come away laughing you wish it had more.

Main Review:

‘Once a fat kid, always a fat kid.’ This dialog resonates so much across audience of all ages, it deserves a half star of its own.

The movie surprises you with the physical comedy and the sharp volleys of dialog that make you guffaw. That’s why you must watch the movie with a bunch of friends. Friends who understand why sometimes ‘expected to succeed’ from the high school yearbook, does not necessarily translate into real life. And the boy you laughed at for his size was really a good guy and hero.

Everyone loves an underdog, and this movie has two, not one. And they make a wonderful team dodging bullets and the CIA. Flashbacks from highschool serve to remind you that we don’t really grow up at all, and in the intermission, you do a quick search of person who got laughed at because they were too fat, or too skinny, were too tall to too short, had two left feet or were plain ugly in the hope that they turned out to be okay, and also look up beautiful people for whom high school was a breeze in the hope that they had somehow turned into gigantic losers and turned into the weasels they were…

You don’t have to refill your popcorn tub because there’s so much of it on the screen. Dwayne Johnson endears you immediately because he pretends that his size is nothing. That he is really a fanboy of the only boy in high school who showed him kindness. Kevin Hart on the other hand needs a boost to his self-confidence and reluctantly accepts The Rock into his life. Of course it is turned upside down. It is so much fun because you like that gags and the physical comedy. But had the script been stronger this duo would have had so much more fun. More fun than, ‘You just shot my butt!’