Movie Review: 21 Jump Street
I grew up on a steady diet of 21 Jump Street, so when this remake was announced, I was pissed. Visions of Starsky & Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson went through my head. It seems like the juices at the old Hollywood creative well have been dried up for a few years now, since they’ve been shoving subpar remake after subpar remake down our throats lately. I honestly thought 21 Jump Street was going to be the same thing. Thankfully, I was wrong.
Let me start by saying this rendition is very self-aware. The tone for the rest of the movie was set pretty early on after an arrest gone bad, when Deputy Chief Hardy (the one and only Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation) tells Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) they’re being moved to an undercover division being reinvigorated from the 1980s because the people in charge couldn’t come up with an original idea. The flick also spends time poking fun at almost every other action movie trope as well (John Woo’s doves even make an appearance). Mix that with some surprisingly good writing and 21 Jump Street is actually a street you’ll want to visit.
The film opens up with a scene of Jenko and Schmidt in high school. Schmidt, who looks like a nerdy version of Slim Shady is trying to ask a girl out to promo, but it goes horribly wrong. Jenko, ever the stereotype of the popular jock, is right there to humiliate Schmidt even more. Fast forward seven years when they both end up in Police Academy together. Realizing they need each other to pass, the two become friends and are assigned to the same bike patrol upon graduating. It’s on this patrol where they botch a major arrest that gets them sent down to Jump Street to go undercover in a high school to infiltrate a drug ring. Through a mistake by Jenko, the two get their identities switched, forcing Jenko to go back to school as a nerd and Schmidt to take a stab at joining the popular crowd. What the two realize is that high school is much different than it was in their day, which causes Schmidt to fit right in with the popular crew (flanked by James Franco’s younger brother Dave Franco) and Jenko to feel hopelessly lost; causing Jenko to get a little dose of his own medicine having to live life in the unpopular crowd. All the while the two are experiencing all this high school angst all over again, they’re still charged with solving the case.
At the end of the day, 21 Jump Street is a great hybrid of R-rated comedy and action film. The action sequences have the same quality as the best summer action flicks, but they also have the added panache of smart adult comedy. Tatum and Hill have great chemistry together, and if given the chance could become the next Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte of the modern cop action comedy genre. The movie also spent some time honoring the past with cameos, and references, but it doesn’t get too bogged down in recreating the past. It really stands on its own and doesn’t need the TV show to fall back on as a crutch. Also, I must mention that Ice Cube steals every scene he’s in as the stereotypical angry black police captain. If you’re looking for a refreshing remake that stands out in the sea of mediocrity, 21 Jump Street will be right up your alley.
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