Ever since this movie came out, I've been walking around singing the theme song from the TV show, which is one of the only things I think I remember from the show. Given it ran from 1987 to 1991, when I was 10-14 years old, it's probably strange I don't remember more but I think maybe my parents didn't let us watch it too much. We finally got to go see it on Monday night, following a recommendation by a friend that it was 'the best movie ever'. We'd also heard a few comparisons to "Anchorman", one of our favourite comedies of all time. We don't agree, but it was amiable fun and gave us a few giggles.
In case you don't know, 21 Jump Street was the location of a police station that specialised in investigating youth crimes using young looking police officers who could go undercover among the teenaged suspects. They had to be able to pass for high school or college students so they could blend in and get the goss. The show was the launching pad for Johnny Depp, but most of the others didn't end up doing much. Holly Robinson, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise appear in cameos but I didn't spot Richard Grieco or Dustin Nguyen in there.
The two new recruits to this 21st century Jump Street are Schmidt (a much slimmed down Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum of GI Joe fame), both kinda screw ups who individually don't amount to much but together they could be a good cop. When they accidentally stumble across a potential career making drug bust on their first day on the job but screw it up, they are moved down to the Jump Street precinct and assigned to infilrate a high school drug dealing ring.
The biggest laughs for me came from the initial sequence where the guys are preparing for their first day back at high school and then arrive for their first day. Things have changed quite a bit in the years since the boys went to school, and they find that what used to make you popular doesn't anymore, and what used to be nerdy is now cool. For example, the popular kids now are into the environment, trying hard at school and being tolerant. This is a real shock to Jenko, who was the popular jock type, and a pleasant surprise to Schmidt who was an unpopular nerd rejected by the ladies. An accidental switch of their fake identities which makes Schmidt the jock and Jenko the science nerd also results in some very humourous sequences. A lot of good jokes come out of this scenario both initially and throughout the movie and give it a little more resonance than if it was just another buddy cop flick. Of course, Schmidt does get carried away with his popularity and Jenko gets jealous, but hey this is a Hollywood movie after all so some cliches have to be present.
Schmidt gets in with the drug dealers, who are also the popular kids, but the guys are still pretty slow to find out who the actual supplier is, much to the annoyance of their boss (played by Ice Cube as a funny/angry police captain). When they finally find out who the suppliers are, things get pretty serious. We get some car chases and shoot outs but still the jokey banter carries on.
I enjoyed the movie and there are some standout scenes (the drug trip, the party) but it is not the most memorable and it didn't quite have that X factor. I'm not putting it on my best movie ever list and it certainly doesn't match Anchorman for laugh quotient and quotability. There is some good interplay between Jonah and Channing, and some good supporting work by Dave Franco and one of our favourite girls Brie Larson (the daughter from United States of Tara) but it doesn't have that outstanding ensemble work that Anchorman had either. It's actually making me want to revisit the original TV series for a comparison. A solid 3 out of 5 stars for this one.
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