Review: "21 Jump Street" is ironic parody of 80s cop comedy

Review: "21 Jump Street" (2012) R
Two little know directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (not seen)  take on the buddy cop comedy genre in a movie adaptation of the comedy-drama series, 21 Jump Street, from the 80s, and cast Channing Tatum and Johah Hill in it, like it's Superbad meets Lethal Weapon meets Police Academy. Like the Starsky and Hutch adaption a few years ago, the story merely pokes fun at the original and makes a sort of follow up, including cameo appearances by characters from the show. Hill and Tatum are ridiculous cops who can't remember even the Miranda rights, who are ordered to shape up, and must pose as brothers in a high school off Jump Street in order to stop a designer drug ring. It's also a bit like The Other Guys from just a few years ago. And it has some Slackers and Fast Times (including the silver muscle car). The story doesn't really try to be like the show like S and H did and it succeeds in being a farce, and somewhat enjoyable in a dumb sort of way. Literally, it's Arresting Development. Mixed up immediately upon admittance into high school, the big jock must take on smart classes while the brainy fat dude has no choice but to be in drama and dress up garishly. The formula has been done so many times they call it the 'buddy formula' and it goes back to silent movies with Laurel and Hardy. Here it works though. The 'young looking' cops attempting to fit into 2012 high school, knowing only 2005 idioms is fun, but actually it's likely they would have known. The car and bike chase was hilarious, especially the gag with the blast proof gas truck, and the guns that fire multiple rounds, like out of Lethal Weapon, and the cameos. Ha. The Peter Pan gag was a little too much unless you think of this as a sort of alternate universe Superbad where Hill's character knew a jock instead of another nerd. Had they had Aptow direct, what would it have been like? And really if you're going to have Tatum in a movie, cast some of his costars too. Come on. The horny chemistry teacher should have been played by Bynes! Even so, it really ins't a bad movie if taken as a buddy cop film. True there are some parts where montages and shots with just Hill don't work. Reviving old stories is even brought up in dialog, probably ad-libbed, including references to Hollywood rehashing old TV shows, and 'Glee' confusing them. Ha.And although the original series which made Johnny Depp a household name was actually more of a teen cop drama, with occasional quirkiness, and die hard fans will likely hate this, since I was not all that much a fan, I don't mind it. Just don't get me started on how Hollywood has ruined some of my favorite 80s shows, like Dukes of Hazzard. At least this is trying to be a farce about 21 Jump Street and how it has gone downhill since, which is kind of funny. It's worth a rental or even a bargain DVD down and then.
Review by Adam Browne