Review

Central Intelligence

At times, it's for the best that someone forgot to tell Dwayne Johnson that he's an action hero.

Despite his deep voice, bulging biceps and imposing manner, the Artist Formerly Known as "The Rock" has an intriguing edge over some other former wrestlers because he's as unafraid of being goofy as he used to be of his opponents. It's impossible to imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a gay hit man like Johnson so ably did in Be Cool. Then again, if you had labored for that physique, you probably would have the confidence to take some chances.

Central Intelligence

73 Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Aaron Paul, Ryan Hansen, Tim Griffin, Timothy John Smith, Thomas Kretschmann

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Rating: PG-13, for crude and suggestive humor, some nudity, action violence and brief strong language

Running time: 114 minutes

Central Intelligence is little more than an anemic and somewhat mean-spirited retooling of Arthur Hiller's 1979 film The In-Laws, where a man with a humdrum job (Alan Arkin) is thrown into a bizarre adventure with a fellow claiming to be a CIA agent (Peter Falk).

This time around, a former high school hero named Calvin "The Golden Jet" Joyner (Kevin Hart) toils as an accountant and spends much of his time lamenting that whatever made him cool as a teen is long gone. His wife, Maggie, (Danielle Nicolet) might have been his high school sweetheart, but she's souring on the once seemingly ideal match.

Bored at work, he accepts a Facebook friend request from Bob Stone (Johnson), whose adolescence was the exact opposite of Calvin's. Overweight and awkward, Bob was a frequent target of bullies. Now, he seems like the ultimate ugly duckling, with his rippling physique. While he still carries a fanny pack everywhere, he's now got a set of very specific skills that allow him to subdue several armed barroom brawlers at once.

Before Calvin can figure out how to ditch the violent, emotionally clingy Bob, he learns that the latter is actually a deep cover CIA agent. Actually, Bob may be so undercover that he has gone rogue. With a series of vehicle chases, shootouts and explosions, Calvin is unable to tell if Bob is on the trail of terrorists or if he's preventing a fellow agent (Amy Ryan) from stopping their plot.

The script by Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen and director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), starts off with some promise but loses its momentum quickly. Johnson has a ball teasing viewers over whether his Bob is dealing with a crisis or is the cause of it. Hart, on the other hand, seems uncomfortable being the straight man. Almost two hours of Hart screeching in terror or rage is tiresome. At times one wishes Johnson would leave him in a dire situation and move on.

It might have been funnier to watch Hart struggling in vain to keep his composure as things become more absurd and chaotic. Even in broad comedies, viewers don't need to be told that running with a seemingly unhinged field agent is dangerous.

Obviously intended as a broad action comedy of massive property damage, Central Intelligence demonstrates a bit of sadism that spoils some of the fun. Seeing bruises and dislocated joints isn't all that funny, and in depicting Bob's miserable teen years, he almost seems to be siding with the bullies. Espionage is presumably a dirty business, but it's hard to side with heroes who are hard to distinguish from the bad guys.

MovieStyle on 06/17/2016

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