Laugh all you want, but we all know it’s true. Life is one big high school. The action comedy 21 Jump Street, based on the television show that introduced us to Johnny Depp, held this to be true. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play Schmidt and Jenko, who are more than ready to leave their teenage years behind them. They join the police force at the same time, and though the two who hated each other in high school, they become best buds and go undercover in a local high school for the secret Jump Street unit.
As they trade in their badges and guns for backpacks and textbooks, Schmidt and Jenko get involved in an investigation that deals with a violent and dangerous drug ring. What they find is that high school is nothing like it was a few years earlier, and neither are ready to confront the perils of what it’s like to be a teenager again.
Their job is to infiltrate the ring and find out the identity of the mastermind behind the operation. In one of the movie’s many great twist the boys get their fake identities mixed up, leaving Schmidt to roll with the cool kids, while Jenko must befriend the science geeks. Their investigation is filled with intense gunfights, stretch limo car chases and hilarious commentary that leaves you hooked. It all leads up to an explosive end that will leave you laughing so hard you might fall out of your seat.
Hill and Tatum are an outrageous dynamic duo which gives “cool” a whole new meaning. The two have a compelling chemistry, and with the movie being R rated, the two are free to, well, “express themselves,” if that is what you want to call it. It wasn’t surprising to see Hill being his quirky and free-spirited self on the big screen, but the real star of the film was Tatum. He is absolutely hilarious and not in the inadvertent way his performances in lovey-dovey dramas like The Vow, and Dear John turn out. For the first time in a long time, Tatum isn’t just loved by every girl in the theatre because of his good looks; he is exceptionally funny and refreshing.
This comedy is packed with absurd language, underage drinking, raging drug use, crude insults and endless jokes about penises.
It’s a smart, silly, radical and raunchy comedy that will leave you laughing even after the credits start to roll.
Nicole Kohn
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