Action-comedy adaptation of the hit late-'80s TV show about young cops who go undercover at a high-school to investigate teenage crimes.
Jonah Hill (also co-writer) stars alongside Channing Tatum (Step Up) as a pair of young fail-prone cops forced to covertly return to their old high school in order to end a synthetic drug ring. Their police captain is Ice Cube, and the coolest kid at school is Dave 'brother of James' Franco. Johnny Depp, star of the original series, has a cameo role.
Jonah Hill has described the film as "an R-rated, insane, Bad-Boys-meets-John Hughes-type movie... It’s not strictly comedic, either. We’re doing a full-on action movie."
Far more entertaining than it seemed on paper, this extremely loose adaptation of the not particularly fondly remembered late '80s drama is the best comedy to be released so far this year.
Abandoning the serious tone of the show was a step in the right direction but it's the underlying dynamic of the film that really makes it work: Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's characters in high school (where we first meet them) are respectively a weird nerd and a popular jock but those exact traits render them in opposite power positions when they return as undercover cops to a high school world wholly unfamiliar to them.
My fears that Hill was turning into a one trick pony were offset by his performance in Moneyball and it's fun to see him re-embrace his finely honed comedic persona here. Acting is not Tatum's strong point but that suits his doltish character. The scenes of him bonding with the school nerds are among the film's best.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller bring some of that film’s skew-whiff energy and never allow 21 Jump Street to settle into any one thing. The silliness occasionally undercuts the suspension of disbelief (especially during the inevitable big star cameo), but the stellar laugh-rate ensured I was never less than highly amused.
By Dominic Corry, Flicks.co.nz
Of it's kind, a movie that is well acted and great fun. Meaning, don't expect anything too highbrow, and you'll need to overlook some silly plotlines that enable much of the comedy, but that's ok. Channing Tatum in particular is refreshing in the role of the dumb jock, and the pace is enough to keep things moving. There's also a sprinkling of scenes that invite us to question some typical stereotypes, and that can't hurt. Go see it, you'll laugh out loud...........
This was interesting to watch and it was really funny i also learned that this was Johnny Depp first TV role.
There's been a recent trend to give successful animators a shot at live action - Brad Bird ('The Incredibles' and 'The Iron Giant') directed 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol'; Andrew Stanton, director of 'Wall-E' and 'Finding 'Nemo' took on 'John Carter,' and now the directors of 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' - Phil Lord and Chris Miller - get to helm '21 Jump Street.' Originally a trashy 80's TV series, now perhaps best remembered as the show that one Johnny Depp was once in, '21 Jump Street' is not a show anyone cared about seeing on the big screen. A fact all involved have run with, by creating a satire of, well, shows like '21 Jump Street.' The result? A smart, fun and pretty funny movie that really couldn't care less about its source material. Written by Jonah Hill (who also stars) and Michael Bacall (who adapted 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'), protagonists Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are rookie cops from different sides of the tracks. When local law enforcement decides to "revive a cancelled program from the 80s" (all puns intended), the boys team up and go back to high school... undercover. So far, so Sandra Bullock in 'Miss Congeniality' - but 'Jump Street' has a lot of fun with the cliches of high school movies, buddy-buddy action flicks and Hollywood genre movies in general. At one point, a character even says how there are no original ideas anymore - just remakes of 1980s TV shows... Yup, it's that self-referential, but not in a pretentious 'Scream' sorta-way - more in a, let's-cast-Ice-Cube-as-a-version-of-every-80s-police-captain-cliche sort of way - and they keep poking fun at how both stars are way too old to get away with posing as students at a high school. This then is a movie that's having its cake and eating it too. If you enjoyed 'The Other Guys' then you'll enjoy the mismatched pair of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as much as Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Tatum's limited acting chops suit his character here and there's a great supporting cast, including 'Parks & Recreation' star, Nick Offerman; Dave (brother of James) Franco, and a guest appearance by some little-known actor from the original '21 Jump Street' TV show, by the name of Depp. All in all? Surprisingly fun :)
It's more consistently amusing and inspired than an adaptation of an '80s TV show has any right to be.
Tthe screenplay by Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill is happy to point out all of its improbabilities; the premise is preposterous to begin with, and they run with that.
Has that "Anchorman" experimental-chaos vibe, with all the hit-and-miss moments that implies. It's completely lunatic and sort of a mess. It's also the funniest high-school comedy to come out of Hollywood in ages.
In its outrageous way, 21 Jump Street has real laughs.
Not since Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg teamed up in "The Other Guys" has an onscreen pairing proved as comically rewarding as the inspired partnership of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.
