A comedy that’s practically a farce!
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Written by: Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart
The Josh Chop: We all remember that kid back in high school who was maybe a little overweight, maybe a little weird, and maybe a little too much into unicorns. Maybe you were that kid. Maybe you were the popular kid, who was into all the “cool clubs” and was a sports star destined most likely to succeed. Sprinkle in a high school bully and what do you get? You get traumatic experiences that change the course of your entire life.
The year: 1996 – Robbie Weirdicht (Johnson) was the high school fat kid everyone loved to hate on. Practically nobody in school respected him, and even worse was that he had bullies out to get him. While showering after gym class, a group of bullies grab Robbie and force him out in front of the whole school butt naked at a pep rally. Robbie is petrified and humiliated, and only one person comes to help him, Calvin Joyner (Hart) AKA The Golden Jet. Calvin steps up and offers Robbie his letter jacket to cover up his shame. This is probably the only nice thing that Calvin has done for Robbie and Robbie won’t soon forget it. After that incident, the school and Calvin never see Robbie again.
Fast forward 20 years where Calvin – the high school popular kid most likely to succeed is shown as a forensic accountant at a boring job. Some things have changed, Calvin is having marriage issues and has some snooty co workers make him reflect on what his life was like back in high school. While at work Calvin receives a friend request on Facebook from a Bob Stone. He doesn’t know that name, but decides to add him as a friend anyway. As soon as he adds Bob, he receives a message saying that Bob wants to meet up and grab some beers and pizza.
Bob wants to catch up and hang out like in the good ol’ days. Calvin is so confused, he doesn’t even know who he’s talking to, then it’s revealed that Bob is actually Robbie Weirdicht from high school. Bob’s changed his name. And simply to avoid going to couple’s therapy, Calvin accepts Bob’s invite and agrees to meet. It’s immediately apparent that Bob is living in the past, when he sends Calvin a link that takes him to a video with 2 Live Crew‘s song: “Me So Horny” blaring in the background.
Later that night, Calvin goes to the bar to meet Bob. Bob has totally transformed and has lost 200 pounds only to gain it all back in muscle. Calvin cannot believe that fat, braces wearing Robbie Weirdicht is like a muscular model now . . . ripped and handsome. Bob has changed but only physically. While women fawn over Bob and ask for his Snapchat name, it’s apparent that Bob is still the same old Robbie Weirdicht. He’s still wearing unicorn shirts and still rockin’ the fanny pack. (This was a great laugh if you’ve ever seen The Rock’s early model photo of him in a black turtleneck and a fanny pack – google it!)
Fun turns into a dangerous situation, when someone tries to steal Bob’s chair at the bar. Bob hates bullies, so he deals with them accordingly. Bob kicks ass, and Calvin is so surprised that Robbie Weirdicht has turned into “Jason Bourne in Jorts” (Jean shorts).
As the night settles down, Bob drops Calvin off at home where Calvin says the classic: “If you ever need anything, let me know.” Bob takes him up on that offer right away and asks him to help him with his payroll account from his old job.
Calvin agrees, and upon helping Bob, Calvin realizes that the account they log into is not an account. Actually, it’s more like a black market auction site exchanging hundreds of millions of dollars. Quickly Bob closes the site and asks to stay the night to which Calvin agrees.
The next morning CIA agents are pounding on Calvin’s door asking if he’s seen Bob. The CIA agents rush the house and Bob is nowhere to be found but it is now revealed that Bob has some problems with the CIA, and he’s somehow involved in the black market. Flabbergasted, Calvin doesn’t even know what is going on and tries to lie his way out of even knowing Bob.
The film goes on as the CIA tries to bring Bob in as Calvin gets caught in the middle. Calvin is the only person who can help Bob uncover the buyer in the whole situation due to his specialty with forensic accounting. Bob needs Calvin to clear his name and to “save the free world.”
The thing about this film is that it’s not really an original idea for a film. One person is a secret agent for the FBI/CIA/whatever and the other is clueless, much like Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Knight and Day. However, I would much rather choose to watch this film. The chemistry that Johnson and Hart have on camera is remarkable!
I really enjoyed seeing both the tough guy and the funny guy together in one film only to find out that the tough guy is hilarious too! Johnson really owns his role as Bob and is absolutely hilarious at playing multiple characters in Central Intelligence.
It’s great to see an action movie but just as fun to see an action comedy which is what this film delivers. The references to both the 90’s and current events are hilarious and to see cameos from Aaron Paul and Melissa McCarthy really made this one to see again!
The writers really did a great job with the dialog, making sure it never got boring and to insert the proper amount of slapstick humor in with the hilarious “what would you do” type situations. I was surprised at the amount of people at the theater – mid day on a Monday.
People just know that this is a great start to the summer with a hilarious duo. Make sure when you see this, you stay just a little longer after the start of the credits to see some outtakes done by the cast for even more giggling. If you’ve followed along on social media you’ve seen that Johnson and Hart have been having a great time promoting this film, and they insert a nod to that the fans who may have been following along.
The writing was fantastic and the casting was on point. I can’t really imagine seeing anyone else in these roles and wouldn’t want to. This is a great comedy that’s almost a farce and is one to definitely see this summer!
