21 Jump Street [Blu-ray]

Be real. When you first heard that Jonah Hill was planning to remake 1980s era, Stephen Cannell produced cop series, 21 Jump Street, you probably scoffed and wrote it off immediately. You wouldn't be alone, and the reaction isn't without justification. Helping to launch the career of Johnny Depp and being the highlight for others like Holly Robinson and Richard Grieco, the show was ridiculous on its face, centered on a special crime unit of youthful looking adults infiltrating colleges and high schools. Frankly, the show was more cool than good, and neither by the final season. Fortunately, Jonah Hill and writer Michael Bacall knew there was no reason to revere the source material, deciding to go for something akin to Superbad meets Police Academy. It was a gamble, but a gamble that paid off as 21 Jump Street isn't just hilarious, it's a modern day comedy classic.Achieving the heights of hilarity that 21 Jump Street does couldn't have been accomplished by simply bringing the same old tired idea and plopping it onto the big screen. Too many other attempted remakes have made that mistake, thinking adding a few modern wrinkles will suffice. High school is nothing like it was twenty years ago. The social dynamics are different, the students are different, and the idea of who should be popular has experienced quite a shift. Setting up the change beautifully, we are first introduced to Morton Schmidt(Hill) and Greg Jenko(Channing Tatum) in high school, where Morton is an nerd doing his best Eminem impression, while Greg is the prototypical popular jock stud.Fast forward a few years and both are enrolling in the police training program, and both are terrible for reasons the other can compensate for. Greg becomes the brawn, and Morton the brains. After proving they don't have what it takes to handle the rough 'n tumble beat as bike cops, they are unceremoniously dumped into a rehashed program to use young looking cops as undercover agents in high schools. Wearing a sense of self awareness on its sleeve, the film takes a few jabs at itself for being a warmed over rehash as well, up to and including the use of Ice Cube as the token angry, African-American police captain. Cube, who has become an expert at playing off his old N.W.A. persona, is in rare form here, snarling and sneering at every opportunity. If there's a scene stealer, it's him.When it comes to comedy, it's the little details that matter the most are often the funniest. Greg is hyped for an opportunity to go back to high school and be the popular guy again, while Morton is justifiably terrified of reliving those traumatic years. What they discover upon arrival is that the entire culture is different. Greg's bullying antics make him a loner, while Morton's brains and gentle nature earn him cred with the cool kids, which he uses to try and infiltrate their drug ring. In a lot of ways, 21 Jump Street has smarter insights into the ways teens think than some documentaries dedicated to the subject. You know from the start that Greg is going to get drunk off his new found popularity, and while it plays out like something out of Can't Buy Me Love, it works.Insightful thought it may be, there's plenty of room for gross out gags, penis jokes, and toilet humor. Hill is old hat at this type of thing by now, although it's unfair to say he's playing the same role here. His character is a little less self confident than usual, and not at all the miscreant he played in Superbad. Tatum, a better actor than many want to give him credit for, shows an affinity for physical comedy we haven't seen from him before. It's hilarious to watch his blank, clearly confused face as the world he thought he knew is flipped upside down. Even more so, he's a ball to watch leaping over cars and beating up rowdy teenagers. The jokes at his expense, since he clearly has the body of a thirty year old man and towers over everybody, are some the film's best. Tatum seems more than willing to roll with the punches and cut loose. For the most part, the supporting cast shines as well. Bridesmaids co-star Ellie Kemper is equal parts sweet and filthy as a teacher with a Mary Kay Leternou style obsession with Tatum. Dave Franco doesn't have much to do, but Brie Larson gives a winning performance as Molly, the girl who falls for Hill's charms.With so much attention focused on Hill, Tatum, and Bacall, it's easy to forget that the glue holding this madcap adventure together are directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Their only gig up to this point was the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and you can see they brought some of the comic madness of that film into 21 Jump Street. The action sequences, of which there are plenty, are fast paced and splashed with a little bit of Looney Tunes wackiness.You don't have to have been a fan of the show to appreciate this 21 Jump Street, but if you were then the film will feel even more special. Cameos are sprinkled throughout, including one especially brilliant appearance special for 'Jump Street' die-hards. There's practically nothing this film gets wrong. Even the closing credits rock. If there's one thing that they can do to screw this up it's making us wait too long for a sequel.

From my site [...]Based on the 1987 TV show that launched Johnny Depp this self aware comedy was one of the freshest movies of 2012. Channing Tatum really showing off his comedic chops and Jonah Hill’s own brand of comedy worked so well together that 21 Jump Street was absolutely the funniest movie of 2012.Despite a rocky personal history Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) bond in policy academy and become fast friends. After graduating from the academy, being sub-par cops land the two in a strange undercover program that puts cops into local high schools. Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) does a great job of setting up the concept of the movie while at the same time berating Schmidt, Jenko, the plot of the movie itself, and the overall lack of creativity in recent Hollywood projects. “We’re reviving a canceled undercover project from the ’80s and revamping it for modern times. The people behind this lack creativity and they’ve run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle s*** from the past and hope that nobody will notice.” Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) is the man in charge of running Jump Street. He was the first to admit he is the stereo-typical angry black man. Almost all of Dickson’s lines are shouted, but they are also all hysterical. Dickson puts Schmidt and Jenko on the case of finding a new synthetic drug called HFS (look the acronym up yourself) after a kid at the school dies from the drug, a fact no one at the school seems to care at all about. Schmidt and Jenko find the dealer in with ease but the supplier proves to be a much harder task. Eric Molson (Dave Franco) is the environmentalist popular guy at school and the popular click takes a liking to Schmidt immediately where Jenko gets stuck with the nerdy kids because their identities get switched. The role reversal was a brilliant comedic move and the bizarre situations are knowingly over-the-top but the comedy all ramps up and actually does contribute to the plot of the movie.Channing Tatum didn’t start his film career with the best movies and only dabbled in comedies. 21 Jump Street shows that Tatum can handle more than strutting with his shirt off and second rate action movies. Only a few of Tatum’s gags are physical and his willingness to look stupid and put himself out there conflicts with his past film resume but sell the comedy on Jump Street so solidly. Jonah Hill comes from the complete opposite side of the industry than his co-star. Hill has been known for his comedies and most of them are quite funny. In 21 Jump Street Hill doesn’t get to stretch his acting as far as Tatum appeared to but he is still very funny and his on-screen personality gets to clash nicely with the action in the movie. The supporting cast is equally as funny as the lead actors despite their somewhat limited screen time. Dave Franco (yep, the brother of the amazing James Franco) plays the popular drug dealing Eric Molson. Franco has done some very funny material. Along with smaller roles in movies he also did a great series with his older brother for Funny or Die. After 21 Jump Street he should be getting some more substantial comedic roles. The absolutely adorable Brie Larson plays the closest thing to a love interest this movie gets. Schmidt falls for her the second he arrives back at school and she fell in line properly with the popular crowd. Larson is really the only character in the movie who got to show some range of emotion. She is funny with the rest of the cast the majority of the time but she also plays the heart-broken school girl very well. Ice Cube doesn’t really strain himself as an actor but the man is very funny and embraces his stereo-typical role well.For a movie based off of an 80s TV show its safe to say expectations weren’t high. Screen Writer Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Manic, Project X) took a silly idea and ran with it. Admitting that the movie was goofy and having the lead actors be just as goofy as the core concept let the audience sit back and really enjoy themselves. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller don’t have extensive amounts of directorial experience but they certainly did due diligence to a fantastic script.If you haven’t give 21 Jump Street a change. It is funny from the opening shot to the end. The story is told along with the jokes, it doesn’t suffer from switching tracks because it can only handle one thing at a time. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill make a brilliant comedic team. 21 Jump Street is a mockery and pays homage to the serious show it was based on.

21 Jump Street was a gem of a comedy movie. I came into this movie expecting something great as the directors Phil and Chris have worked on some great movies in the past (and future? I saw The Lego Movie before this one) and it didn't disappoint. It was very funny but also had a heart to boot. Channing Tatum stole the whole movie. I had never seen anything this guy was in, I only knew him as the hot guy for the ladies but his prowess with the material was unmatched. Jonah Hill also pulled a great performance as well. But what really makes this comedy a gem (remember I said that?) is the chemistry between Hill and Tatum. They both worked so well together. They're friendship felt incredibly real. There's is a duo that I was emotionally invested in. For example, I really was upset when Tatum overheard Hill slamming him at the little get together just to be cool. And I was genuinely happy when they made amends before the final showdown. Yes, this subplot is nothing new, and possibly even a cliché at this point but they made it work so incredibly well. You can guarantee that I was as excited as they were at the end when they finally got the Miranda Rights correct. The music and energy and jubilance of the two characters was too perfect.That being said, there were times a little past midway through the movie where it did kind of slow down a bit but it picked right back up the farther along we went.If for some reason you've never seen this movie then do yourself a favor a at least rent it. $4 for HD is a damn good price to pay for this movie. I'd even say buy it too. It's worth it.Oh, and the best part of this movie is when Channing jumps through the gong. Priceless.

21 Jump Street is another film adaptation of an old TV show. Can we just appreciate the Tagline on the blu-ray cover: "The only thing getting blown tonight is their cover." It's poetry. For those of you who read my reviews know that I struggle with comedies, my humour is practically non-existent so I hardly ever laugh. I actually found this to be rather hilarious and laughed more than 3 times (I think that's a record?). It was good fun!! It knew exactly what it wanted to be and succeeded fantastically. A pair of police officers (who are the worst cops ever, no hyperbole) go undercover in a high school to bust a drug ring. This drug when taken has four unique phases which are portrayed on multiple occasions. They were funny as flip! Phase 2 is the greatest, massive props to the guy who envisaged those hallucinations. The story is actually well-rounded, the role reversal of our lead characters was a pleasant watch. The contrast of cliques from their past school life to the present made for some funny moments. I like the involvement of these cliques, the nerds were useful as opposed to just being picked on. The forced scenes of "yayyyy friendship is important" are quite cringe-worthy and didn't flow with the rest of the narrative. Channing Tatum was excellent, probably the first comedic role I've seen him in and he nailed it. Jonah Hill, who I notoriously dislike, was actually...dare I say...watchable. Now now, before you say "you finally like him Luke!" I still found him unfunny compared to Tatum, but he was tolerable. Brie Larson, Dave Franco and Ice Cube were also decent. A nice surprise towards the end as well. The action scenes were filmed with some exhilaration, particularly the limousine chase. I thought the editing had visual flair, reminded me of Edgar Wright. The soundtrack cutting out during a joke or the quick jump cuts to emphasise something (like the explosion opportunities in the freeway car chase). Honestly I didn't want to like this, but I had a really fun time and found it to be extremely watchable.

Once I found out that 21 Jump Street is a movie based on an American TV show from the eighties I was kind of turned off. Most of the time movie remakes of old 80's TV shows are at best, ok. So to watch an American comedy based on an American show I had never heard of seemed like the worst kind of entertainment, the kind where I am left out of all the inside jokes and references. After watching it however, apart from one particular nod to the fans which I am not going to spoil here, I can confirm that your knowledge of the original show holds absolutely no bearing to your enjoyment of this film.This film is funny, plain and simple, it's a funny script delivered by funny actors. The premise is that two rookie cops are given the assignment to pretend to be teenagers at a local high school to uncover a drug distribution network. This set up inevitably delivers some funny situations, such as a teacher having confusing feelings towards Channing Tatum's character and a particular drug induced scene that is funny on the same levels as the furry wall in Get Him to the Greek. The humour is very broad, ranging from low brow to slap stick to self satire, and everything in between.For such a low brow comedy, the script, co-wrote by Jonah Hill, is pretty smart and more aware than most films set in high schools. For example our characters are pretty confused when they find out that the school isn't divided into jocks, cheerleaders and nerds. One of the pupils are gay and no one gives a damn also the popular kids actually care about their future and don't waste their time bullying people, all of this is very disarming to Tatum's and Hill's characters and leads to a fresh take on the high school dynamic.Out of the two leads it is surprisingly Tatum who gets the most laughs, maybe because you don't expect him to be funnier than Jonah Hill, when he delivers lines with perfect comic timing you end up finding it funnier than from someone who you expect to deliver humour, sort of like the queen, break dancing instead of cutting a ribbon.Although I wouldn't say this is a classic comedy, it certainly delivers better than most stateside "funny" films, with intelligent writing and jokes on every level, you are bound to find something that you like in this film.

I was skeptical ordering this film when it was quite new- I was going to wait for it to get a bit cheaper, but a tenner really isn't too bad so I went for it. I'm glad I did! It's absolutely hilarious, I watched it with my brother and there wasn't a single scene where we weren't laughing out loud or rewinding the film for another hilarious sentence. I would really suggest watching this film, it's a comedy for everyone over 12 to understand.

In short, this is just plain fun with some very silly and lags-out-loud moments. It's reached almost a cult status in the US and was recommended to me by a friend in the US and I recommend it to you.

I bought this for my daughter for christmas. The dvd arrived a few days before christmas which was perfect. The whole service from ordering to delivery was excellent. Overall I was extremely happy with the service and speed of odering this dvd. Most of all my daughter loved it and has watched it over and over and thinks it is one of the most funniest & best film around