Just when you thought all the dynamic duos had been used up, “21 Jump Street” presents Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as the newest team in comedy.
Hill and Tatum portray the classic socially- awkward- but- smart partnering with the all-brawn-but-no-brains persona that gives audiences an overdone, yet humorous friendship. The guys are both police force rejects who aren’t quite up to the standards of actual police work, and so are thrust into the undercover world of high school criminal justice and placed in an undercover agency known as the “Jump Street division.”
Roles are reversed for the heroes on their return trip to high school. Hill gets in with the “cool” crowd and Tatum lags behind with the “chemistry nerds.” The rest of the film revolves around Hill and Tatum using their new identities and connections to navigate the criminal underworld of a senior high and track a new illegal drug from the dealers to the supplier.
Nothing so far has presented “21 Jump Street” to be a moving, original film, but let’s face it: It’s not. The film is pure and cheap humor at its best—it pokes fun of itself in places where writers know that the jokes have been far overdone. Even the actors at times seem to joke around in their roles at the lack of original humor presented in the film, but that’s what keeps the laughs coming.
The film gives a fairly accurate view of today’s high school students, and it’s quite funny watching Hill’s and Tatum’s interactions with the hipster-based culture of high school.
“21 Jump Street” boasts quite the cast lineup, with a few surprising faces thrown in here and there. The family resemblance between Dave Franco and his brother James even gives the movie a satisfying “Pineapple Express” atmosphere at times.
Overall, “21 Jump Street” is an entertaining, slightly crass, but fun trip down memory lane through the wild ride of high school. It will almost make you wish there had been a criminal syndicate in your high school so the Hill/ Tatum duo could’ve come and shaken things up.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Just when you thought all the dynamic duos had been used up, “21 Jump Street” presents Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as the newest team in comedy.
Hill and Tatum portray the classic socially- awkward- but- smart partnering with the all-brawn-but-no-brains persona that gives audiences an overdone, yet humorous friendship. The guys are both police force rejects who aren’t quite up to the standards of actual police work, and so are thrust into the undercover world of high school criminal justice and placed in an undercover agency known as the “Jump Street division.”
Roles are reversed for the heroes on their return trip to high school. Hill gets in with the “cool” crowd and Tatum lags behind with the “chemistry nerds.” The rest of the film revolves around Hill and Tatum using their new identities and connections to navigate the criminal underworld of a senior high and track a new illegal drug from the dealers to the supplier.
Nothing so far has presented “21 Jump Street” to be a moving, original film, but let’s face it: It’s not. The film is pure and cheap humor at its best—it pokes fun of itself in places where writers know that the jokes have been far overdone. Even the actors at times seem to joke around in their roles at the lack of original humor presented in the film, but that’s what keeps the laughs coming.
The film gives a fairly accurate view of today’s high school students, and it’s quite funny watching Hill’s and Tatum’s interactions with the hipster-based culture of high school.
“21 Jump Street” boasts quite the cast lineup, with a few surprising faces thrown in here and there. The family resemblance between Dave Franco and his brother James even gives the movie a satisfying “Pineapple Express” atmosphere at times.
Overall, “21 Jump Street” is an entertaining, slightly crass, but fun trip down memory lane through the wild ride of high school. It will almost make you wish there had been a criminal syndicate in your high school so the Hill/ Tatum duo could’ve come and shaken things up.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
