Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson meets Kevin Hart in this action buddy movie, which Hart should be used after the successful Ride Along with Ice Cube. To me, it feels like he’s pretty much cheating on poor old Cube, as over the past year or so Johnson and Hart have been building the hype for the movie together.

As such I was looking forward to seeing Central Intelligence since the daft marketing gags, such as the live video bust up they had a while back, was pretty good (but no way on par with Deadpool!).

The movie starts off with both characters in high school, with Hart’s Calvin Joyner as the cool kid voted most likely to succeed, and Johnson as the obese kid who gets bullied at each opportunity. Rather than just use a simple flashback story, it’s funny seeing both actors’ faces superimposed onto younger bodies, especially with The Rocks old school curly hair similar to his old photo in a fanny pack.

On the final day of school, something happens which changes both their lives ending up in a complete role reversal. Hart goes on to become a bored accountant, while Johnson joins the CIA and becomes Bob Stone, the fighting machine and babe magnet with a liking for the 16 Candles Movie.

The two get back together after Bob gets in touch with Joyner over the school reunion, which leads the two to work together as Bob tries to evade the CIA for stealing secret nuke codes and killing his partner.

The story is simple, but the gags to me were few and far between. Although off to great start, the film didn’t keep pace, with the best action scene really already featured in the trailer. Central Intelligence is really a film that wants to tell people that they can be whatever they want to be regardless of what happens in their life, with buddy movie thrown over the top. If you’re fans of either actor, or just want some brainless fun give it a watch, but don’t expect it to be on par with Ride Along.