Central Intelligence

Every single week, new movies open in theaters. Even if you go to the multiplex regularly, there’s just not enough time to see it all (at least without losing your job and family). So when you’re looking to catch up with some of the year’s best, where should you start?

I have a dream job. What could be better than watching and talking about movies for a living? Nothing; the answer is nothing. But lately my job has been a lot less fun than normal, because the movies themselves have been a lot less fun. Quite frankly, this summer sucks.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Finding Dory opened at number one at the box office this week and did enormous business, but the folks at Disney and Pixar must be breathing a sigh of relief. After all, last year’s The Good Dinosaur was the first film to come out of the venerable animation studio that could be considered a legitimate box office disappointment, especially since it came in the wake of the massively successful Inside Out. The massive opening weekend for the sequel to Finding Nemo repositions Pixar in its rightful place on the top of the animated movie food chain.

Like so many nightmare scenarios in modern life, Central Intelligence begins with a Facebook friend request. In high school, Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) was voted Most Likely to Succeed. He did not; the day before his 20-year reunion, he’s a low-level accountant. Too embarrassed and frustrated by the way his life has turned out (despite his relatively happy marriage to his high-school girlfriend Maggie, played by Danielle Nicolet), he’s decided to skip the reunion. That’s when the friend request arrives, from someone named Bob Stone. Calvin doesn’t know any Bob Stones, but he reluctantly accepts the friend request anyway. It turns out Bob Stone is actually Robert Weirdicht (say it out loud), who was involved in a horrific bullying incident back in high school.

Who knew it, the biggest and the smallest guys (literally) are the ones who will save the world.

Casting Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart in a movie is a surefire way of guaranteeing butts in theater seats. But what happens when you cast both of them in the same movie? We’ll find out soon enough when the new action comedy Central Intelligence arrives in theaters, but until then, enjoy your first sneak peek at the film courtesy of Johnson himself.