Mr. Movie: Johnson, Hart have a great time in ‘Central Intelligence’

The title is Central Intelligence, but it doesn’t contain a lot of intelligence. Nope, this is pure guilty pleasure, and is packed with laughs.

Dwayne Johnson is Bob Stone, who was fat and unpopular in high school. The movie opens with him tossed naked onto the gymnasium floor at the last gathering of his class before graduation. Kevin Hart’s Calvin Joyner — who is the class’ most likely to succeed — takes pity and wraps him in his letterman’s jacket.

Flash forward 20 years and it’s time for the class reunion. Joyner’s career didn’t take off, and he’s embarrassed to go. Then Stone shows up, having gone from blubber to buff. It also turns out he’s a CIA agent running from his agency, accused of murder and trying to steal billions.

He’s innocent. Or is he?

Central Intelligence is directed and co-written by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who penned and directed the quite Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He has a blast with this material, as do Hart, Johnson and a supporting cast.

We all know Johnson can do comedy. And bless his heart, Hart doesn’t go off to be totally silly and look really stupid like he does in most movies. Ironically, Hart is able to maintain his composure and still be the character who goes off to looks totally silly and really stupid.

And he does it playing the straight man, which is actually Johnson’s comedy forte. Johnson gets to play a guy whose chandelier is missing a few light bulbs. He’s a loose cannon with a heart, and in this case, its courtesy of a rare excellent performance from Kevin Hart.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Johnson, Hart have a great time in ‘Central Intelligence’."