Central Intelligence (2016)
2016
PG-13
107 Minutes
After he reunites with an old pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.
User Review
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Central Intelligence is ironically lacking in intelligence. There was no thought process in making the script, the story or the casting. But in saying that, this isn't a totally bad film in fact there are many enjoyable moments. The Rock (I will always call him that) is just full of charisma and again he shines here. He proves that he is a movie star. Casting Kevin Hart though was a big no no, I don't find the man funny and he was only there because of his Kevin Hart-isms and so that the script can include some jokes about black people. Seeing Aaron Paul is always good and nice cameos from Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. There are action scenes in this comedy and they are enjoyable to watch with some added slapstick humour, particularly the office shootout. I didn't laugh, but there were moments I smiled and that's partly due to the script including a ridiculous amount of movie references (drinking game alert!). It's overall message with regards to bullying is well intentioned even if the last scene forces this upon us. But as a comedy, there aren't actually many funny moments and that is just a waste of good talent (minus Kevin Hart who has no talent). The story is generic, formulaic and I defy anyone to remember this the next day after watching it. It's one of those comedies where the structure of the film is just random "funny" situations that our lead characters find themselves in but it doesn't actually progress the story and therefore feels disjointed. This is somewhat a good time, but not for the reasons the film was aiming for. Replace Kevin Hart, write a more coherent narrative and add some more action...then this would've been much better. Fortunately The Rock saves this from being abysmally boring.1 member likes this review.
