Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson – a little Kevin Hart and a big Dwayne Johnson, that is. For in Warner Bros.’ summer actioner Central Intelligence, both actors will star as two sides of the same buddy cop duo, to hilarious effect.
Hot on the heels of the relatively successful Ride Along 2 – financially, at least – Hart is one of the biggest names in comedy at the moment, while Johnson simply oozes personality as Bob Stone, the big, friendly giant who was once ridiculed and bullied in college for being the fat kid. In fact, whereas the film’s debut snippet saved the money shot of a pudgy, CG Dwayne Johnson singing in the shower, today’s trailer leads with it.
In those intervening years, Fat Robbie has transformed into a trained CIA killer, but a new mission requires him to reunite with Hart’s high school jock and old friend. It’s a plot riddled with enough shoot-outs and double crossing to give Riggs and Murtaugh a run for their money, but we’re quietly confident that Johnson and Hart’s likeable chemistry can find an audience later this year.
Behind the lens is Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball, We’re The Millers), directing a cast that also boasts Aaron Paul, Amy Ryan, Ed Helms, Danielle Nicolet and Bobby Brown. Central Intelligence will blast into theaters on June 17.
The story follows a one-time bullied geek who grew up to be a lethal CIA agent (Johnson), coming home for his high school reunion. Claiming to be on a top-secret case, he enlists the help of the former “big man on campus” (Hart), now an accountant who misses his glory days. But before the staid numbers-cruncher realizes what he’s getting into, it’s too late to get out, as his increasingly unpredictable new friend drags him through a world of shoot-outs, double-crosses and espionage that could get them both killed in more ways than he can count.
