Central Intelligence

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a former fat kid in Central Intelligence. It makes for an obvious visual contrast — 20 years after bullied teenage outcast Robbie Weirdick (also played by Johnson, digitally smoothed and plumped up) was humiliated in front of his whole high school, he reappears, having changed his name to Bob Stone and transformed himself into a bulging upside-down triangle. The scenario could have been the ultimate look-at-me-now revenge, except that Johnson doesn’t play the role with that sort of swagger. Bob is a CIA agent on the lam, and while he may be 90% brawn now, he’s still a fanny pack–wearing, unicorn-loving oddball. He also continues to idolize Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart), the former high school star who decades ago was kind to him in a difficult moment, and who, in present day, is chafing against his unexceptional adult life as a midlevel account.
Central Intelligence — which is directed by Dodgeball’s Rawson Marshall Thurber off a script he wrote with The Mindy Project’s Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen — is a sloppy, just-entertaining-enough comedy that keeps setting aside its more interesting reunion angst in favor of forgettably staged action. But the film has a firm grasp of Johnson’s appeal as a leading man: He is Hollywood’s most imposing ray of sunshine, a guy whose machismo is too cartoonish to be toxic; a dude who, rather than flaunting his muscles as a sign of superiority, presents them as an achievement that anyone can earn, if one commits to a regimen that includes crushing pre-dawn cardio and devouring several pounds of cod a day. Johnson shares the physique of a bulked-up star from the 1980s, but not the attitude. He’s at his best when he seems in on the joke of how silly tough-guy posturing can look (like that time when he flexed so hard that he broke the cast on his arm and healed his broken bones through the sheer force of will in Furious 7).
Johnson and Hart are a decent pairing, their size differential a joke unto itself, though the reliably funny Hart often seems a little aghast at his casting as the straight man, as he seized every opportunity he could for some physical comedy. The movie is inevitably stronger when it’s dealing with the main characters’ high school baggage, their former teenage selves casting long shadows over the thirty something they’ve become. That’s why the best scenes in the movie involve unbilled cameos during which some famous funny people turn up in the roles of Bob and Calvin’s former classmates. As Bob’s gone from heavy to burly and Calvin’s stayed a little too steady, their former oppressors and crushes have done their own growing up, and the actors who play them fittingly contend with their onscreen images as nice guys or broad comediennes.
Central Intelligence (and every other high school reunion movie) suggests that we never really leave behind the people we were in high school, no matter how thoroughly we remake ourselves. But the movie’s final moment of triumph, in which Bob revisits and redoes the worst moment of this life, is a poignant instance of self-love framed as an act of outrageousness. The movie begins with Johnson as a chubby teen, dancing to En Vogue by himself without a care, and comes back around to that moment in a way that makes the meaningless twists along the way worthwhile. Bob’s journey is not about changing the way he looks but about reclaiming the freedom he used to have.

Source: www.buzzfeed.com

Central Intelligence

Dwayne The Rock Johnson plays a former fat kid in Central Intelligence. It makes for an obvious visual contrast 20 years after bullied teenage outcast Robbie Weirdick (also played by Johnson, digitally smoothed and plumped up) was humiliated in front of his whole high school, he reappears, having changed his name to Bob Stone and transformed himself into a bulging upside-down triangle. The scenario could have been the ultimate look-at-me-now revenge, except that Johnson doesnt play the role with that sort of swagger. Bob is a CIA agent on the lam, and while he may be 90% brawn now, hes still a fanny packwearing, unicorn-loving oddball. He also continues to idolize Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart), the former high school star who decades ago was kind to him in a difficult moment, and who, in present day, is chafing against his unexceptional adult life as a midlevel account. Central Intelligence which is directed by Dodgeballs Rawson Marshall Thurber off a script he wrote with The Mindy Projects Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen is a sloppy, just-entertaining-enough comedy that keeps setting aside its more interesting reunion angst in favor of forgettably staged action. But the film has a firm grasp of Johnsons appeal as a leading man: He is Hollywoods most imposing ray of sunshine, a guy whose machismo is too cartoonish to be toxic; a dude who, rather than flaunting his muscles as a sign of superiority, presents them as an achievement that anyone can earn, if one commits to a regimen that includes crushing pre-dawn cardio and devouring several pounds of cod a day. Johnson shares the physique of a bulked-up star from the 1980s, but not the attitude. Hes at his best when he seems in on the joke of how silly tough-guy posturing can look (like that time when he flexed so hard that he broke the cast on his arm and healed his broken bones through the sheer force of will in Furious 7). Johnson and Hart are a decent pairing, their size differential a joke unto itself, though the reliably funny Hart often seems a little aghast at his casting as the straight man, as he seized every opportunity he could for some physical comedy. The movie is inevitably stronger when its dealing with the main characters high school baggage, their former teenage selves casting long shadows over the thirty something theyve become. Thats why the best scenes in the movie involve unbilled cameos during which some famous funny people turn up in the roles of Bob and Calvins former classmates. As Bobs gone from heavy to burly and Calvins stayed a little too steady, their former oppressors and crushes have done their own growing up, and the actors who play them fittingly contend with their onscreen images as nice guys or broad comediennes. Central Intelligence (and every other high school reunion movie) suggests that we never really leave behind the people we were in high school, no matter how thoroughly we remake ourselves. But the movies final moment of triumph, in which Bob revisits and redoes the worst moment of this life, is a poignant instance of self-love framed as an act of outrageousness. The movie begins with Johnson as a chubby teen, dancing to En Vogue by himself without a care, and comes back around to that moment in a way that makes the meaningless twists along the way worthwhile. Bobs journey is not about changing the way he looks but about reclaiming the freedom he used to have. Source: www.buzzfeed.com