The remake of the television series 21 Jump Street which aired from 1987 to 1991 came out this past weekend. In the new film adaptation, the dramatic series gets a revamping, turning it into a raunchy comedy starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Hill and Tatum play officers Schmidt and Jenko, who happen to have gone to high school together when they were younger. Now years later they are trying to put there adolescent behavior behind them and become respected police officers. The only problem is they are incompetent and as a result are sent to join a special crime unit called Jump Street. This request is their last chance to prove that they have what it takes to remain police officers. They meet up with their new boss Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), and he tells them that they are were chosen for this unit because of their youthful looks and will be assigned to go back to high school in order to uncover the people behind a new synthetic drug that is circulating the school. When Schmidt and Jenko go back to high school, they discover that a lot has changed in the few years since they were once adolescents. They start to realize that being back in high school is bringing back all of the painful memories and problems that they once faced as teenagers. It’ll be hard enough to uncover who is the supplier of this new drug, and then on top of that, having to pass their classes as well. Schmidt and Jenko will have to use all that they learned as teenagers, if they are ever going to have a chance at getting close to these young students in order to bust this operation.
I wasn’t a big fan of 21 Jump Street back when it was on TV, but I was excited to see the pairing of Hill and Tatum in this comedic remake. The trailers were hilarious and I had a good feeling that this movie was going to be very funny. I was right in my assumption. This movie was outrageously funny and actually better than I expected. The writers took full advantage of the R rating as there was an abundance of vulgarity in this full. Ice Cube’s character alone must have said the “F†word about two dozen times. The film didn’t just live off it’s over the top use of curse words; it also had a bunch of sight gags that were just as side splitting. One scene that had me laughing hysterically was the drug induced scene between Jonah and Channing. I think that was the funniest scene in the film. Jonah Hill was also reunited with one of his Superbad co-stars, Dave Franco, who is the younger brother of James Franco, and looks just like his older brother.
There were also cameos from three of the original TV series alumni. Holly Robinson Peete had a small role in the beginning of the film, and then to cap it off Peter DeLuise and surprisingly Johnny Depp gave their time to give cameos. I have to admit DeLuise and Depp’s scene was pretty funny as well. The action in the movie was decent, and the film only slowed down with the laughs for just a small moment towards the end. Over all it was a good comedy, and well worth the effort. Plus the movie leaves you to believe that there will be a sequel. I gave this film 2 ½ stars out of 4. It was really funny in certain parts, and I had a good time watching it. The movie runs 1 hour and 35 minutes. It’s rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, drug material, teen drinking and some violence. It was written by Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill, from source material from Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell. It was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
You never realize how much fun it was being a teenager, till you a full grown adult. – Ezo
Next movie reviewed: The Hunger Games
