A daft, disposable Kevin Hart buddy movie made bearable by the presence of Dwayne Johnson. The latter plays Bob Stone, an epicene CIA agent who Facebooks bored accountant Calvin (Hart) two nights before the pair’s high school reunion. Calvin was super-popular and successful as a teenager while Bob was a flubby joke. He can now crush enemies with a single blow but still wears a fanny pack and lights up at the thought of unicorns. He says he needs Calvin’s help. Is he for real?
Johnson, once viewed as a himbo, has tried straight acting with cringe-worthy results (Snitch: now there’s a movie I’d pay good money to un-see). But in comedy mode he’s ace and, if anything, he’s improving with age.
As Bob, he can look innocent but also spookily spaced-out. Bob has a sort of love interest (a lazy-eyed classmate played, as an adult, by Melissa McCarthy). Still, we’re meant to wonder if he’s attracted to Calvin. Like the child-man in Chuck & Buck, Bob’s a stroke away from becoming a menace. Yet as any fool can see, he’s sexy. Very sexy. Summer blockbusters used to be reliably homophobic but, thanks to Johnson, this one’s approach to love and lust seems genuinely new wave.
Cert 12A, 108 mins
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