After his last raunch-com “The Sitter” failed miserably at the box office, Jonah Hill returns for another raunch-com role in “21 Jump Street.”
It’s safe to say that “21 Jump Street” is far from a box office flop, garnering $36.3 million on its first weekend.
Most college students won’t recall, but “21 Jump Street” was originally a TV series, running from 1987-1991. The series featured a young Johnny Depp playing one of the lead roles. In fact, the writers had so much fun with this movie’s script that they gave Depp a cameo role along with two other stars from the original series.
Hill stars along side Channing Tatum as two numbskull cops who are sent on a special undercover assignment that involves finding the supplier of a synthetic drug spreading like wildfire through a high school.
I know what you’re thinking. Tatum and Hill starring alongside each other in a comedy going undercover as high school students seems like a hackneyed concept that reminds one of an Adam Sandler movie because of its corniness.
However, it’s one of cinema’s most pleasant surprises of the year. There’s real creativity here. The script flows well and the jokes are not recycled from previous comedies, either.
Tatum and Hill have never starred together in a film before “21 Jump Street,” but they’re perfect in this one. You couldn’t ask for better chemistry, which is another shining spot for why this is such an attractive piece of cinema.
Hill plays Morton Schmidt, a once nerdy, timid person in high school who suddenly becomes popular while undercover in high school as a cop. Tatum plays Greg Jenko, who was the stereotypical scatterbrained jock in high school. However, he too undergoes a major change as he becomes an outcast in his new role as an undercover cop, often finding himself hanging out with the geeks of the school.
The paradoxical effects make for some hilarious moments, but it also helps them strengthen their bond as police partners. It makes it not only a movie full of bawdy and humorous moments, but it is also a genuine story.
There’s not much to hate about “21 Jump Street.” The filmmakers brought together a fantastic cast and managed to fill the movie with a boat load of hilarious jokes.
