Central Intelligence

Think about the name of this movie for a moment;  it would indicate that  intelligence (all of it, a lot of it, some of it?!)  is centrally located.  But, in this movie, that central location is not the two main characters brains!!  Ok, my play on words, pun intended!  And that may have been the idea behind the title.  Enter Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.  Dwayne is Bob Stone, a CIA agent who went to high-school with Calvin Joyner, Kevin Hart's character. They have been out of touch since their high school days.  Bob remembers Calvin as a friend who helped him out when he was being bullied as an overweight teen.  Bob has weighed down and bulked up since his high school years.  Bob finds out that Kevin is a whiz-bang accountant and realizes he needs his skill with numbers to aid in the assignment he is working on, so he makes sure they connect at their  reunion.

Bob practically kidnaps Calvin into helping him out and leads him into a world of car chasing, gun toting spy hunting espionage.  Calvin has no idea what he is getting into, he is swept along by Bob, thinking the favor he needs is a harmless numbers task on the computer.  He soon finds out that it is not, but it takes a while longer for him to see that he is involved in a world class chase for a bad guy.  When Calvin begins to have a dawning realization that he has been duped and is in over his head, it's too late.  The resulting indignant anger he throws at Bob makes him the straight guy to Bob's funny guy responses.  The comic chemistry between Dwayne and Kevin works very well and was a surprising pleasure for me.  Yes, it is a formulaic spy plot.  It works because Johnson and Hart work it.  They play off each others strengths well, bringing genuine laughs and entertainment.  As well as surprising us with good straight guy-funny guy banter.

I saw this movie with my husband and we picked it because we wanted a good laugh and thought this one would fit the bill.  It did.  It was funny and the acting was good.  You have to know going in that this was made for entertainment and Dwayne and Kevin entertained the audience with this one.  There was plenty of laughter in the theatre we were in!  It was a real escape for a couple hours and that alone was worth the price of admission.  Give yourself over to it; don't critique it. Take a tub of popcorn and a large soda in with you, you will be set for a good time!
I do not review movies for anyone but my readers, so I paid my way in.  I give Central Intelligence five stars for entertainment value.  I give it four stars for storyline.  Great funny movie all the way around.
You should see it!

Thanks for being here
~Jeri