Director : Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast : Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart

Quick take : A buddy comedy that will keep you laughing.
Filmfare rating : 3/5

Buddy movies, especially those involving an odd couple, almost always work. The catch is that the both lead actors should have some serious chemistry going. Remember Arnold Scwarzenegger and Danny Devito hitting it off in Twins or the Rush Hour couple Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker bickering all the while while solving cases. Well, substitute Chan for Johnson and Tucker for Hart and what you have is another lucrative franchise just waiting to be milked for all its worth.

The plot involves two high school buddies touching base after twenty years. Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) is an accountant with a midlife crisis while  Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson) is a rogue CIA agent who is on a mission to prove his innocence. The two join forces and end up resolving some personal issues as well, while saving the day.

Mind you, it's a comedy carrying bold strokes. No one is trying to be subtle here. Kevin Hart, who is actually a trained comedian, goes through his motormouth act with aplomb. And Dwayne Johnson brings his goofiness to the forefront. Despite being a rough and tough CIA badass from the outside, inside he's all mush and still in awe of the high-school's golden boy Hart. The narrative is full of self-referencial jokes and irreverent humour. For example, Johnson gets to tell Hart that he's looking like a black Will Smith. Some set pieces are extremely funny, like when Johnson pretends to be a marriage counsellor and has a 'session' with Hart and his wife. Remember, this is an action comedy so apart from Dwayne using his awesome physique to pulp down the bad guys, there are also scenes of our heroes jumping off the 15th floor maybe and miraculously surviving.

It's also a movie with a message. Dwayne Johnson is shown to be a fat kid in high school (named Robbie Weirdicht — for the sound gag) and was the butt of everyone's joke therefore. He was the most bullied guy on the planet and pumped up those gigantic sets of muscles just to prove a point and in time learnt to stand up to the bullies. Don't expect a serious approach to the problem though. We kinda know 'The Rock' will punch the living daylights out them all in the end.

The film's deft pace, it's frenzied silliness, punchy wisecracks coupled with the Johnson and Hart's deft handling of the situational comedy holds your interests despite the threadbare plot. It's a genuinely funny film so be prepared for a part deux soon.

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