Central Intelligence is less a story that it is a mere jumbling together of a bag of routines and conventions and cliches from other buddy thrillers, linked loosely together by little shreds and patches of dialogue scenes that suggest a central plot that may or may not hold together into a coherent story. But it has an irresistible spirit of Let's Have Fun and a delightfully charming star in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a magnificent giant of a man with a real gift for using his physique for comedy. I dislike action movies to the point that I can't testify to all of the action-movie echoes and imitations it involves. So you will probably enjoy it more than I did. I was more than satisfied and as surprised and amused as I was by Fast and Furious Seven, which didn't take itself seriously either.
The title Central Intelligence suggests that it's about the CIA, but it really isn't. Johnson and his partner-after-a-fashion Kevin Hart are only tangentially tied to the CIA. And real CIA agent Amy Ryan not only is hardly in the movie at all, but when she does appear is not made fun of; in fact, her unit is continually busting through doors just in the nick of time, behaving much like CIA agents in serious action movies. Her weapons sound like howitzers and never seem to hit anything--just like weapons in serious thriller movies.
Johnson and Hart keep trading parts as heroes and clowns til there is virtually no consistent characterization by either one, but they know how to deliver the chuckles whatever they're doing. If it's all pretty silly, at least until November Central Intelligence won't be the silliest thing you'll see and hear.
