Aarcflick

 If you take away a few cell phones and gadgets, Heads of State could undoubtedly be a relic of the 1980s. And that is, arguably, its greatest virtue. An old-fashioned oddball buddy movie, seemingly with no ambition other than to be a hilarious diversion, achieves that sweet spot—undemanding yet entertaining—that so many modern action comedies fail to find. At first, one might wonder if they've misjudged their tone. The opening sequence, in which a covert operation to arrest a villain (Paddy Considine) goes fatally awry, feels like a cheap Mission: Impossible. Then there's the somewhat stiff introduction of two feuding world leaders: veteran UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), whose declining popularity has made him moody, and newly elected US President Will Derringer (John Cena), a former action star who doesn't see much difference between being a scripted hero and a real one. There's some awkwardness in the early scenes, as Cena's imposing, nonchalant perfo...