21 Jump Street strays far from the original 90s television show featuring young heart throbs going undercover in high schools to nark on kids and deliver Public Service Announcement’s.
Instead, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have created a remake that is as raunchy as it is mind numbing, the occasional funny quip sprinkled over easy physical humor and montages of partying and walking out of limos in suites (doves included).
21 Jump Street (Courtesy Columbia Pictures)
When nerdy loser Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and pretty but stupid Jenko (Channing Tatum) join the police force, they must work together as a team while going undercover at a high school to bust a “dangerous” drug ring operation before it spreads to other schools.
Early on, the police captain makes a self-aware joke about recycling old ideas to create something new but less exciting. And while it’s clear the fourth wall is being broken as a nudge and wink to the audience, it comes off as pandering instead, an excuse for the stale jokes and pseudo-edginess to come.
21 Jump Street isn’t without a few decent laughs. The social hierarchy of a high school where progressive, eco-liberal snobs are the most popular and Jenko’s muscly swagger and gas-guzzling car puts him on the outskirts of social acceptance provides a few absurd laughs as Channing Tatum pretends he likes hanging out with science dorks. And the bromance between Jenko and Schmidt is funny if not a little embarrassing, as if trying to convince the audience that Michael Cera and Jonah Hill via Superbad haven’t already taken the crown for best high school duo.
Ice Cube plays the raw and unforgiving Captain Dickson (get it? Cause he’s a dick!) and Rob Riggle of The Daily Show fame plays gym teacher Mr. Walters, continuing a history of roles where he gets to be loud and obnoxious. Science teacher Ms. Griggs (Ellie Kemper of The Office) fawns over Jenko in the same awkward, fumbling way Kemper is often portrayed in movies, making the biggest joke of all in 21 Jump Street how much Hollywood loves to typecast its actors.
Eric (Dave Franco, brother to James Franco), the drug smuggling hipster, plays calm and collected for most of the movie, and it’s hard not to want to be apart of his inner circle of beautiful jerks. Schmidt plays some will-they-won’t-they with high schooler Molly (Brie Larson) in what might have been an endearing addition if it didn’t feel so uncomfortable that an 18-year-old high school senior is being preyed on by a grown man. C’mon, dude, at least wait till she’s got her diploma.
While 21 Jump Street is unlikely to be in theaters long, cheap chuckles might be enough to pay the $12 for a movie ticket, if only to swoon over Channing Tatum’s biceps. But don’t expect to see anything new being done, unless you happen to love dick jokes and prom night shenanigans.
Contact CU Independent Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Murdock at Sebastian.murdock@colorado.edu.
