21 Jump Street: Critic Reviews

Apart from the general premise, it's completely different from the television show; although it does pay a few well-timed homages.

It's part homage and part wink at the past. It jokes about high school but is also a sensitive sociological study of those crucial years. It bridges slapstick and action. It's quick-witted with its pop references.

Completely abandoning earnest teenagers-in-crisis melodrama in favor of crude, aggressive comedy, this "21 Jump Street" is an example of how formula-driven entertainment can succeed.

In its outrageous way, 21 Jump Street has real laughs.

It's that rare comedy that's funny throughout, with a hilarious story that hinges on the unlikely pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.

"21 Jump Street" might be yet another product of Hollywood's recycling program, but it deserves to be noticed.

Neither man has had a better foil. They are literally and figuratively trying to bring something out of each other, and they do.

Though these mismatched cops bounce well off each other, Tatum, in his first comedic lead role, is the better performer, both more riotous and affecting.

Big surprise: The sometimes chaotic "Jump Street" is a lot of ridic fun, as the kids say, turning predictability on its head.

This cheerfully chaotic, gleefully vulgar action-comedy retread of the old television series has box-office success written all over it, and where's the harm? It's irresistibly funny until it isn't.

Not everything... works, and if you're actually looking for a consequential night at the movies you might want to stay away, but for a goofy fun Friday night this gets the job done.

It has a bad, slapstick first act but by midpoint becomes strangely compelling, tapping into the fantasy of reliving one's high-school years (which did a number on us all) and getting it right.

The late-eighties TV series is rebooted with jolts of sentiment, personal discovery, and wild comedy.

Here's the last movie I was expecting with this title. In other words, "21 Jump Street" is pretty good.

What was the last stupid Hollywood comedy -- good-stupid, not stupid-stupid -- to offer actual, audible, verifiable big laughs?

Much of the humor involves trotting out cliches from cop movies and teen movies, then commenting on how dumb they are.

This potty-mouthed and drug-laced reimagining of the 1980s TV show has one of the highest laughs-per-minute ratios since the Naked Gun films.

"21 Jump Street" thrilled me to itsy-bitsy elated pieces.

"21" makes clear from the beginning it is gobbling up some pop culture refuse in the name of nothing more than making fun of it and having fun with it.

Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller get nearly everything -- the tone, the self-referential nods to the show and the dead-solid-perfect surprises -- just right.

The helmers make slick use of their new live-action collaborators. Considering that hardly anyone was asking for a 21 Jump Street reboot, they've put their own playful stamp on it.

This is the funniest movie I've seen in more than a year.

Like high school itself, "21 Jump Street" hits the wall about halfway in and even prom night can't save it.

Tatum and Hill steamroller any misgivings right from the start. They take a comedy connection that seemed doomed to fail - pairing Tatum's hunky command with Hill's nerdy neediness - and make it look like the most natural thing in the world.

The whole crew makes clear its affections for action cinema, trashy television and the YouTube generation alike while having fun at the expense of all three.