A high school pep rally is under way in the school gym. Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) has won just about every award from Most Popular to Most Likely to Succeed. Amidst the celebration, overweight, naked class nerd Weirdicht is unceremoniously dragged from his shower by bullies and splayed center court. Black honoree Joyner comes to his rescue by offering him his jacket for cover.
Fast forward two decades. Joyner is a lower level accountant while Weirdicht has transformed himself into the trim, muscular now Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson). He credits the change to working out six hours every day for twenty years. He attends the class reunion to thank Joyner for spurring his turnaround.
Stone now works for the CIA and is hunting the “Black Badger” and a key code to a satellite that could destroy the earth. He enlists Joyner for his math skills and the pair set out to “save the world.”
The plot is as thin as a single ply tissue. But it is the gross differences between the cool Johnson and pint-size Hart who is a master of panic that makes this movie work.
It might be hilariously idiotic, but it is a welcome respite from the current local tragedies and bitter politics.
Other critics have ranked the show at the two star level at best, but “Central Intelligence” gets a genuine B tag in my alphabet ratings. I also exit polled several patrons and they unanimously gave the movie lots of smiles and nods of acceptance.
Trivia note: Weirdicht is not on the trailer cast list for a reason. He is a computer generated form of Johnson himself.
The show is playing at the Barnstorm Theater and the Old Mill Playhouse in The Villages.
Jack Petro reviews movies for Villages-News.com
