Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are the odd-couple of comedy. They’re an unlikely duo, but they work so well together. From start to finish you can tell the chemistry is genuine between the two, and they both had a BLAST making this flick (you can even check their Instagrams to see that). Throw the two of them into an action comedy that goes over real world issues (bullying, growing up, life vs. expectations), and you have a surprisingly solid and hilarious piece of entertainment. Let it be known that I was not impressed with the trailers, and Kevin Hart has really let me down the past….6 or 7 films.

I’ll go ahead and get all my gripes out of the way now. First off, Dwayne Johnson is not the BEST actor, but does that really matter? During this he oversells and undersells certain moments, but at the same time, while it’s noticeable, you really don’t care because he has so much charisma, and this was never meant to be an award winning film. It’s great to see him leading a comedy, instead of just being part of the ensemble, and without him I really don’t think this story would have worked at all. Secondly, the story itself moved at an uneven pace. They spent a little too long on certain subjects, and not enough time on other subjects. However, this didn’t impact the enjoyment factor as there was rarely a moment you weren’t laughing or being intrigued.

You read that last part right. Intrigued! They actually had some twists in this that had me wondering who really was the bad guy, or how something happened. This is surprising for an action-comedy, and really brought this one a step above the others in the genre. Mix in the real life issues they tackled, and you have some writers that really put together something of quality instead of just going for easy laughs. I really appreciated that there were very few dick/fart jokes, as a lot of comedies like to use now-a-days, and also that they kept a slew of cameos under wraps. It’s rare you see something, and the cameos are actually surprises as  they are intended to be (usually studios spoil everything in the trailers).

At a time when the country is reeling from the terrorist attack in my home town of Orlando, “Central Intelligence” could not be coming along at a better time. It’s anti-bullying message and laugh-out-loud comedy is just what we need, and will guarantee it a huge haul at the box office. It deserves every penny. The Rock uses his charm and charisma, and his huge mass, to crush every single scene he is in, and he even dwarfed Kevin Hart, not just in size, but in comedic presence. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart made a terrific duo, and I can’t wait to see what they do together next. 4/5

Be sure to SHARE this post with your friends! 🙂