Movie Review - 21 Jump Street

It's been a few months since I've been inspired to write a movie review. That's not to say that I haven't seen any movies worth seeing. It's just that I go to the movies so often, it can become a chore to review everything that I see. Also, since I've been on this extended vacation in Unemploymentville, it's hard to set aside the time to write between my extensive career search and the quality time I get to spend with my Playstation 3.

Since I've recently found the cure to that unemployment virus that's been going around, I've seen a resurgence in my passion for writing. My first Screen With Envy - Movie Review for 2012 is a remake of the iconic 80's babyface cops show - 21 Jump Street.

The Original TV Cast

I'm not sure why, but the last few movie reviews that I've done have been remakes. 21 Jump Street is technically more of an update of the original than a complete redo. By the way the narrative is set up, the whole "babyface undercover cops as high school narcs" police detail (Headquartered at 21 Jump Street) had already been established as an effective unit in the 80's. The program is being brought back into effect to infiltrate a high school drug syndicate that has developed a new designer drug that has taken the life of a local student. Where the original 1987-1991 TV crime drama made a serious effort to highlight topics such as drug abuse, homophobia, promiscuity, child abuse, and hate crimes; The 2012 movie is pure comedy.


The story begins with a prologue set in 2005. takes place in a present day generic metropolitan area. We meet the two protagonists during their senior year in High School. Schmidt, played by Jonah Hill, is a lovable loser who looks like Eminem minus the confidence. Jenko, played by Channing Tatum is the long haired cool kid who earns his popularity by putting other people down. We follow the two students as they cross paths shortly before they both miss out on their High School Prom.

We then jump to present day and discover that our two heroes have both enrolled in the Police Academy. After identifying each other's strengths and weaknesses, Schmidt and Jenko decide to put aside their differences and help each other become police officers. After being assigned to the bike patrol in a local park, the two heroes make their first arrest. Unfortunately, the charges don't stick due to an irresponsible  technicality and Schmidt and Jenko are reassigned to the newly revived 21 Jump Street unit.

The 21 Jump Street Unit is lead by Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) and made up of several other young looking detectives who are assigned to different high schools in the area. Dickson informs Schmidt and Jenko of their new undercover identities and places them in Sagan High School in order to locate the dealers of a synthetic drug that has 5 distinct phases of side effects. There task is to infiltrate the dealers and identify the manufacturers of the lethal substance.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum

 

• Jonah Hill as Detective Schmidt - An awkward officer who lacks confidence but is highly intelligent.
• Channing Tatum as Detective Jenko - An overconfident officer who lacks intelligence but is very attractive.
• Ice Cube as Captain Dickson - The angry African American leader of the Jump Street Squad.
• Dave Franco as Eric - A High School student who is at the center of the undercover investigation.
• Brie Larson as Molly - Eric's girlfriend.

 

I went into the new 21 Jump Street movie being aware of the original TV show's premise, but not familiar enough with the program to call myself a fan. After hearing news of the big screen remake, I was less than impressed when I found out that Jonah Hill would not only be developing the story, but also cast as one of the stars. Not that I dislike Jonah Hill, but rather I just couldn't see him as anything other than the cerebral chatterbox guy who has literally made a career of being a pudgier version of Seth Rogan.

The announcement of Channing Tatum in the lead role did very little to spark my interest. Vanilla ice cream is always a popular flavor and everyone knows the flavor - but not many people would name it as their favorite. Channing Tatum is like the vanilla ice cream of actors. I won't go as far as to say I hate Channing Tatum. However, he's not at the top of my list of favorites.

After standing in line for 2 hours to secure a seat at the advanced screening at Rave Motion Pictures on the lonely end of the Las Vegas Strip, I sat down in a puddle of doubt. Judging from the trailer, I just really couldn't see this movie being that funny.

The New & Improved MiFi Ratings Scale

 

21 Jump Street is one of those rare instances in which I actually got angry at myself for giggling in the first 5 minutes. Then, as the movie progressed, my giggles turned into chuckles. My chuckles into full blown laughter. 21 Jump Street is a very funny movie. It actually caught me by surprise because I was positive that I had seen all of the slightly amusing scenes in the red band trailer. Every time I laughed out loud I looked to my left and saw my wife laugh just as hard or harder.

The way the movie identifies stereotypes and respectfully plays with them is both clever and refreshing. The idea that High School cliches that were awkward in the past have basically switched to what is considered cool in the present is a great set up for much of the comedy. The dumb jocks that were cool in John Hughes films have been replaced by free thinking socially conscience hipsters. The High School landscape has changed and this film exploits those differences with comedic success.


Overall, I don't think I wanted to, but I really enjoyed this film. While my mind was thinking that Hollywood had run out of ideas and was thinking that they could arrogantly fool us by repackaging a program from the 80's, a character in the film was saying that exact same thing. It's that kind of tongue in cheek cleverness that makes this film a winner.

Envy Green's Official MiFi Rating

 

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