21 Jump Street (2012)

Stars: Jonah Hill, ChanningTatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle

Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Genre: Action, Comedy

Rating: B

21 Jump Street is an action comedy about two cops, Morton Schmidt (Hill) and Greg Jenko (Tatum), who are assigned to specialty division, 21 Jump Street, after blundering their first arrest, because the only thing they know about policing is based on what they’ve seen in the movies.  On the surface, it appears to be little more than yet another 21^st century movie remake of an 80s TV show.

Except it isn’t just another remake – it isn’t a remake at all.  Instead it’s a sequel of sorts, more a continuation of the story set out in the TV show than an attempt to recreate it. It pokes fun of the fact that it is a remake, with Ice Cube’s character even saying “The people behind this lack creativity and they've run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle shit from the past and hope that nobody will notice.”  One of my favourite elements of this movie is the references that it makes to the TV show, from having some of the original cast appear in cameos to making Tatum’s character the son of Captain Richard Jenko, from the first season of the show.  A lot of it is done very subtly, but it gives the viewer a sense that the film is not trying to replace the original series.

There is more to the movie than just the fact that it doesn’t attempt to usurp the series.  The acting is good – which is a bit of a surprise given as Tatum isn’t exactly known for his acting skills.  I enjoyed watching Tatum play the somewhat dimwitted cop who spends much of the movie in over his head as he tries to negotiate his way through high school among the nerds.  Watching him in an AP Chemistry class was, in my opinion, comic gold.  Normally I’m not a big fan of Hill, bit in this his painful awkwardness seemed to work, at least for the most part.  There were moments when the jokes appeared to go on a bit too long, especially when it came to Schmidt being socially awkward.  I also liked how it is an action movie, but it makes fun of action movies.  In many ways it’s an action movie equivalent of Scream.  Both the movie itself and the characters specifically acknowledge the things that you expect from an action movie.  Overall, this was a pretty good movie, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.