Friday, March 16, 2012

21 Jump Street Review

Plot Summary:
In high school, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) was an unpopular dork and Jenko (Channing Tatum) was a popular jock. Seven years later, they reunite at the police academy becoming friends by helping each other succeed at their weaknesses. After a failed arrest, the two are assigned to an undercover unit disguising themselves as high school students to stop a drug ring giving synthetic drugs to high school students. Based on the 80's TV show of the same name.

The Positives:
21 Jump Street is one of many 80's TV show reboots that Hollywood has been releasing lately. Most people were expecting this to be a disappointment, some being fearful that the jokes were spoiled in the trailers or the thought of another 80's reboot failure. Fear not, this film is different from any recent 80's reboot. This film has a smart, hilarious script and a whole lot of heart. Imagine the bromantic humor of Superbad, the action sequences of Bad Boys, and the clever satirical moments of Scream combined into one movie. That movie is 21 Jump Street.

One thing that really makes this film work is the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. On paper, it sounds like a weird and terrible pairing. However, on screen, this pairing is truly believable as best friends. The way they compliment and poke fun at each other seems very natural and it feels like they are lifelong friends. While Hill is expected to be very funny, Tatum shocks us all with not only a funny performance, but one that is good too. I was never a fan of Tatum in his other films, but here he makes his performance work. Maybe comedy is Channing Tatum's strong suit. Only time will tell with that statement. The rest of the performances are very good as well, in particular, Ice Cube's moments as the police captain are very hilarious.

The direction here is very well done too. Fresh off of the animated comedy Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller I thought would never be the kind of directors to do a film like this. I was proven dead wrong here. They use the same style that made Cloudy work so well. They blend fast editing with stupid humor and heartfelt moments. I hope to see these guys doing more live action work after this film.

The script here is far more clever and hilarious than I ever expected it to be. The one-liners and gross-out moments are placed perfectly in the film. However, it's the satirical moments that make this film really work. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's characters were opposites in high school, when they go undercover they get to live their opposites in high school. What an unpredictable and smart idea. Also, they make fun of standard cop and film cliches throughout the film. It's these small things that make 21 Jump Street work as both a stand alone comedy and a brilliant parody.

The Negatives:
One issue I had with this film was the pacing at the beginning of the film. While the film is laugh out loud funny the entire film, the first 10-15 minutes were a little slow compared to the rest of the film. Then again, these minutes were meant to introduce the characters and set up the story. I guess it didn't matter that it was slow, but I wish this sequence had a little more humor.

Another issue I had was the limitation of a certain character. Ice Cube's character steals each scene he is in. However, I felt there could have been more scenes with him in it. His character really impressed me here and I wish I could've seen more of him in this film.

Conclusion:
21 Jump Street is not your average 80's reboot. It is a clever, hilarious and heartwarming parody that deserves a franchise after this film. In my book, it'll easily go down as one of the biggest surprises of 2012.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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