Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Central Intelligence rated PG-13 for brief strong language, brief nudity, crude suggestive humor, and action violence



I wasn't sure about this film when I first saw the preview.   I'm glad that I took a chance on this one.
In high school Calvin Joyner (played by Kevin Hart) was the big man on campus.  Voted most likely to succeed and considered the most popular senior of his class he seemed like he had it all and that life would only get better after high school.
Fast forward to present day and the audience finds that Calvin is a successful accountant who married his high school sweetheart Maggie (played by Danielle Nicolet).  On the eve of their high school reunion, Calvin finds that his vague sense of dissatisfaction in life is much worse than he thought.  He loves his wife but his marriage is ok rather than great.  His job is all right rather than excellent.  He fears that he peaked in high school and doesn't want to go to the reunion.
After getting and approving a friend request from a mysterious guy named Bob Stone (played by Dwayne Johnson), Calvin is surprised  that Bob is in fact the lonely obese class misfit originally named Robbie Weirdicht.
Calvin remembered that poor Robbie had been bullied throughout high school and had had a particularly nasty prank played on him where he was pulled naked from the shower and literally tossed out in front of the entire school during a pep rally.  When the prank had happened Calvin had been the only person to not laugh and actually offer assistance to Robbie.
Calvin is even more surprised by the change in Bob when he meets up with him the night before the class reunion.  At first Bob and Calvin seem to be hitting it off despite some slight weirdness from Bob.  Bob asks Calvin's help in deciphering some information related to a bank account and accompanies Calvin to Calvin's house that night.  After Calvin gets a weird message on his computer and Bob accidentally destroys Calvin's laptop, Bob ends up staying over.
The next morning, a mysterious lady who calls herself Agent Pamela Harris (played by Amy Ryan).  She says that she's with the CIA and that Bob Stone is wanted for stealing satellite codes.  Strangely Bob has disappeared from Calvin's living room with no trace that he was ever there. Calvin is cautioned to alert Agent Harris if he comes across Bob again.
At work Bob approaches Calvin and asks for his help.  Bob tells Calvin that he was framed for his partner's murder as well as the theft of the codes by a criminal code named The Black Badger.  The information that Bob had asked Calvin to decipher was information that would lead to The Black Badger and enable Bob to bring him to justice.  Calvin reluctantly tries to help Bob after he becomes convinced that Bob might be innocent.
Comedic hijinks ensue as Bob and Calvin try to find out who is The Black Badger and stop him from stealing the codes and hopefully make it to the high school reunion.  Along the way they cross paths with one of Bob's main tormentors from high school named Trevor (played by Jason Bateman).
I loved that Dwayne Johnson played such an awkwardly nerdy guy.  I loved the comedic chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart.  While both can be unintentionally "strong" in their respective films, they both managed to seamlessly complement each other.  Also I loved that Melissa McCarthy played Darla and I loved Darla's special connection to Bob.
The story was good.  The acting was good.  Finally a comedy that didn't rely on being disgusting and actually succeeded at being funny without being too crude.  I also love the gag reels.  Dwayne Johnson messing with Melissa McCarthy was particularly hilarious to me because he seemed to keep catching her off guard even though he was telling her what he was going to do or she would specifically ask him to do his thing.

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