CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (12A) 108 mins) Stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet and Tim Griffin.

UNDERSCORED with a heartfelt anti-bullying message, Central Intelligence is a surprisingly sweet and goofy mismatched buddy comedy that might lack the quick-wittedness promised by its title but has good will in abundance.

Surprisingly, Dwayne Johnson is gifted the lion's share of the haphazard script's one-liners and physical pratfalls.

Calvin Joyner (Hart) was the golden boy of his high school in 1996, winning countless awards for his sporting prowess.

He proudly assumed the nickname Golden Jet and delighted classmates with his signature move: a backflip from a standing position.

In sharp contrast, overweight misfit Robbie Weirdicht (Johnson) was bullied mercilessly by classmates and suffered the humiliation of being flung naked into the school gymnasium during an end of term student rally hosted by Principal Kent (Phil Reeves).

Twenty years later, Calvin is a humble accountant, who has married his sweetheart, Maggie (Danielle Nicolet).

It transpires that Robbie is a CIA agent, who may or may not be in possession of missile launch codes that are poised to be sold to a mysterious buyer (Thomas Kretschmann).

Rival CIA agent Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) and her colleagues Mitchell (Tim Griffin) and Cooper (Timothy John Smith) recruit Calvin because they believe Robbie is a terrorist known as the Black Badger.

Torn between past and present, Calvin must deduce if he can trust Robbie or if he is being used as a pawn in a deadly conspiracy.