There is nothing groundbreaking whatsoever about this movie, but it is surprisingly funny throughout and Dwayne Johnson/Kevin Hart have chemistry in spades. B

This, but with a slightly higher grade.

B+

And I had no idea Ike Barinholtz was a screenwriter and Ed Helms was a producer.

Tone was kinda off to me but Dwayne Johnson is great here and I liked the cameos.

It was neither LOL funny nor it is dull but it sqaunders the potential to make an all-time classic buddy-cop comedy. It was funny overall and had decent surprises throughout while still being grounded. Rock seems to be trying too hard here for getting the comic timing right and most of his jokes are overacted or don't land with a punch aside from situational comedy of therapy and the initial dancing sequence (promoted heavily in trailers). The characters transition from fat to macho doesn't seem very organic and the redemption at the end doesn't feel like there is enough build-up to it. Hart does great here but then again he is very comfortably playing himself here and nothing challenging to him at this point.

I loved the cameos here

5/10

Not bad, but nothing great either. It is better than either of those two shitty Ride Along movies though mostly because of The Rock and Hart's chemistry. I also got a kick out of the cameos here, especially what they do with Aaron Paul lol!.

Central Intelligence

A by-the-numbers buddy comedy. Not very funny, with moderate chemistry between the leads, and featuring unspectacular set pieces and action. Both leads played against type in many ways (Johnson more than Hart) with only Hart managing to achieve something. Dwayne Johnson's character was incredibly annoying. The humour is pretty stupid. First off, when a film tries to get laughs out of a name like Robbie Wheirdicht ("weird dick", get it?), you know it's probably a stinker. The film battles on virtually until the end trying to sell us the "is he/isn't he the Black Badger" narrative, which reminded me of films like Knight & Day, how they are trying to get us to doubt the integrity of the main character throughout. The difference being that it doesn't work here. Johnson's entire persona is one of honest heroism. No viewer will think otherwise. The action was rushed, the lines weren't particularly snappy, and the whole affair just lacked its own style.

In all honesty, the out-takes were the best part of the film. Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman were welcome cameo/supporting roles in a comedy that had been rehashed from multiple other CIA-agent-chase-doubt action comedies.

C+

This was painfully unfunny. It's one of those college toilet humor movies that pop up once in a while, earn money and continue to be forgotten for eternity after a couple of years, when the cycle starts over.

I like Dwayne. He has some kind of charisma that translates well on screen. I just wish he would get to be in at least a decent movie every once in a while.

* / ***** (F)

Somebody wants attention.

It had funny parts, and the lead actors were good, but the CIA storyline got dull after a bit. I'd already stopped caring when they revealed his partner was still alive and the villain.

B-

Its Knight and Day, but even more basic. Yet its not terrible. The Rock and Kevin Hart work well together. And I liked how every random "white person" role was played by somebody really famous.

I wasn't sure the prologue and the parts where the Rock is a unicorn loving goober was working, but once they get to the office shootout, Amy Ryan and who is the Black Badger it really picks up nicely. I hadn't really seen Kevin Hart movies and I'm not big on his stand up, so I was a bigger fan of him in this than I expected, his shtick worked well and he is charismatic. A lot of fun little lines like the CIA agent looking at pornhub or The Rock saying he's going to rip Aaron Paul's throat like Road House. Fun action comedy.