21 Jump Street: Review By moviegeek

The buddy cop genre was exhausted long ago. It started with a single cop in Beverly Hills Cop and then expanded to 48 Hrs., Tango & Cash, Bad Boys, Rush Hour, Miami Vice, Seven, Rising Sun, Men in Black, Showtime, Shanghai Noon, National Security, Lethal Weapon, Dragnet, The Last Boy Scout, I Spy, Training Day, White Chicks, Hollywood Homicide, Starsky and Hutch, 16 Blocks, Hot Fuzz, The Other Guys, and countless sequels to many of these films. The genre hinges on three basic rules: (1) The characters are opposites of each other, (2) They pair up under unusual circ*mstances, and (3) The challenge they face takes them out of their comfort zone. I wasn't surprised to find that 21 Jump Street is no exception to these rules.

(1) The characters are opposites of each other: Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are about as opposite as you can get. Jenko (Tatum) is the big-muscled, dim-witted fellow. Schmidt (Hill) is the largely-clutzy, sharp-minded gent. It's unfortunate that these leading actors don't really have any chemistry with each other. They interact, but they aren't able to play off of each other very well.

(2) They pair up under unusual circ*mstances: They went to high school together. Schmidt was the geeky loser and Jenko the obnoxious jock. But they meet seven years later in police academy. In order to pass his exams, Jenko befriends Schmidt. In return, Schmidt gets in better shape for his physical tests. There was a curious break in formula here, though. 21 Jump Street turns these opposites into great friends. They stop just using each other and actually become great friends (a transition only hinted at in a short montage).

(3) The challenge they face takes them out of their comfort zone: 21 Jump Street is, in short, a program that sends cops undercover into high schools and colleges to fish out drug rings. Jenko and Schmidt, now scraping the bottom of the barrel for jobs, are entered into the program. They must get in with different crowds of teenagers to eventually find out the supplier. Back to high school they go. One is nervous because that was where he was most vulnerable and picked on. The other is more than excited to be back where he was most popular. Who would guess that their roles in high school this time around are flipped?

It's largely hit and miss. The first 30 minutes or so are painfully sloppy, nothing more than a strewn-together mess of everything we saw in the trailer. But the moment they enter high school, the film finds its beat. Everything starts to slow down and actually groove together. But by the film's end, we get 20 more minutes of a shoddy climax. 21 Jump Street is inconsistent from start to finish. So I guess the best way to review this film would be to separate what works from what doesn't.

WHAT WORKED:

-THE ACTION: The most surprising thing about the film was how well the action was choreographed and paced. The chases and shootouts were actually exciting! 21 Jump Street manages to blend some great comedy into the action as well without it seeming forced or detached. Well-shot and trimly-edited, the film's action scenes speed along nicely.

-IN-JOKES: The scripted jokes are sometimes quite funny, but what's more refreshing are the jokes that poke fun at the material. From explosions not happening when expected to obvious lines of dialogue being changed, the movie occasionally has a good laugh at its own formulaic setup.

-JONAH HILL: While Tatum is a fine choice to star opposite him, Jonah Hill is the real star here. With his adept comic timing and his dry, effortless humor, he manages to sell every scene he's in. Two especially funny scenes give him a chance to really stand out. One where he and Tatum are high on the very drug they're trying to snuff out, causing him to sabotage a track meet. The other scene is where he is being chased by dangerous bikers in a frilly Peter Pan costume.

-THE HIGH SCHOOL SECTION: This middle section of the film was right on target. It features lots of jokes that weren't given away in the advertising and moves along with quick, consistent pacing. The best action and funniest moments are all in this section.

-THIS LINE: Jenko, after realizing he isn't the cool one anymore: "When did high school get so screwed up? I blame Glee."

WHAT IRKED:

-GROSS-OUT HUMOR: It baffles me why some comedies have to throw in one or two gross-out stunts in every R-rated comedy. It's rarely funny, and here is no exception. For example, there are a slew of juvenile penis jokes that were tolerable, if not somewhat tiresome. But at the end of the film, one final penis gag went disgustingly far. It got a loud, squealy reaction from the audience. I, on the other hand, was rolling my eyes. Gross does not equal funny.

-ICE CUBE: What an annoying role. He spends nearly all of the movie shouting profanities and unfunny jokes. The audience offered a few giggles and small laughs here and there. But his character really just marred every scene he was in.

-THE FIRST 30 MINUTES: I mentioned this earlier, but this really was what hurt this movie most. The film jumps all over the place, from a tacky high school flashback to a 5-minute police academy montage. When a movie starts out badly, it's almost impossible to totally regain footing. 21 Jump Street works hard in the middle section to make up for it, but it's not quite enough.

-THE FORMULA: This film is so obvious and predictable at times. Very few plot revelations came with any sliver of surprise. Everything is just going through the motions. To be fair, I don't really have a problem with a formulaic film. The problem comes when the film tries to surprise us with the inevitable. The best formula films are the ones that are aware that they are just that.

-THE HIGH SCHOOLERS: Why are high school kids always so boring? We get nerds, the perfect girl, and a gay kid (who apparently is only there to make gay jokes). The only unique character is the leader of the popular pack (played by James Franco's brother), who is a smiley environmentalist. Not only are the kids boring, but the film doesn't even try to engage with them. They just show up whenever the screenplay demands it.

It isn't much of a compliment to say that this is better than I thought it would be, because I was expecting practically nothing. 21 Jump Street is a surprisingly funny film stuck inside a tedious glut of clichés and dull setups. It's overlong, lacks any real chemistry between the stars, and is dryly predictable. But there is a good enough sense of humor here and some exciting action to keep the film from folding in on itself. This is breezy, forgettable entertainment.