21 Jump Street is a ridiculous trip of an overly sarcastic journey of two young cops who get assigned to go undercover as high school students to try to get in close with teen drug dealers. Those who watched the 80s TV show 21 Jump Street are in for a shock as this movie is nothing like it. Unlike the TV show, this film was a strong R rated comedy with lots of crude humor and over-the-top stunts which teen audiences will love.
The story begins with a flashback of the two main characters Schmidt and Jenko played by (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) back when they were in high school. Hill plays the obvious awkward nerd while Tatum plays the dumb jock. Years later they find themselves both training to be cops at the same facility. They soon discover how important each other’s talents are and decide to team up to fight crime. However, with their first arrest they find that their “professional cop protocol” is not up to par and they get reassigned to go undercover to act as students at the local high school.
This film was surprisingly good, not because it had a great story line, but because the actors were very funny and hit all the right punch lines and had excellent timing with their jokes. It is definitely a teen movie, filled with modern language and references.
Some surprising actors who appeared in the film were Dave Franco, James Franco’s brother, who played the ‘high school bad boy’, Ice Cube who played the unit leader of the 21 Jump Street operation, and none other than Johnny Depp himself whose shocking appearance was done very well as he came out of the disguise he was in for the entire movie.
Though this movie won’t go down in history as being particularly original, it is perfect for going out to have a good time with friends filled with lots of laughter.
