21 Jump Street

He'll beat your dick off with both hands!

"They're too old for this shift."

Welcome to Thursday everyone! Today I'm going to be talking about the 2012 movie adaptation of the 80s tv show 21 Jump Street. The movie stars Channing Tatum (I think he just played a male stripper in Magic Mike? Yeah that was weird) as the good looking, athletic, and dumb Jenko, and Jonah Hill (who found his breakout in Superbad) as the not so good looking, less athletic but very smart Schmidt. With their powers combined, the two of them form almost one functioning police officer. Almost. After they completely screw up an arrest, mostly because Jenko doesn't know the miranda rights, the two of them are turfed to 21 Jump Street (which is in a Korean Church) where they are tasked with posing as high school students to discover where a new deadly designer drug is coming from. What follows is a less than textbook perfect operation, that involves distributing alcohol and drugs to minors and stealing a couple cars. While it might not be good police work, it is really funny.

Don't try this at home kids.

Like other movies I've reviewed here, I decided to watch 21 Jump Street because I thought it might not be very good, and I'm always raring for an opportunity to slander a movie that I thought was complete crap. Unfortunately for me this did not satisfy those criteria, and ended up actually being a pretty funny ass movie. Like any good movie built around tired old movie tropes, 21 Jump Street is very tongue-in-cheek about its subject matter, and some of the funniest moments are bits of self referential humor. During a chase sequence for instance, Schmidt and Jenko repeatedly brace for an explosion when typical movie explosion causes happen (a gas tanker gets shot for instance) but then nothing happens (until a biker crashes into the back of a pickup truck carrying chickens). I'm exactly the sort of person who would find something like that very funny. I also am very amused when Ice Cube yells at Jonah Hill about leaving "Korean Jesus" alone. Because he busy, with Korean shit.

Also this teacher really wants to bone Jenko, and is crazy.

While I would describe this movie as being really dumb, but also really funny, the writing behind it is actually surprisingly clever. The movie has more than its share of cheap laughs, but as mentioned above some of the humor is pretty well thought out. The rest of it is a litany of profanity and Jonah Hill shooting a guy's dick off, and then that guy trying to pick it up in his mouth because he's handcuffed. So yeah the movie also has no standards, and if by some chance you are offended by vulgarity, then I'd really recommend you don't go anywhere near this movie. Also how are you still reading my blog?

Don't become business partners with guys that look like this.

Supporting cast include Rob Riggle (who's appeared in a lot of things, many of you probably saw him during his time on SNL, but did you know he's a US Lt Colonel in the Marine Reserves?) Brie Larson (most recently in the Scott Pilgrim adaptation as Envy Adams) Dave Franco, who is the younger brother of James Franco (and also plays a total stoner, I guess its a family type-cast), and Ice Cube, as the aforementioned furious, shouting captain of 21 Jump Street. The movie also includes cameos by several of the series regulars from the original 21 Jump Street, including the original duo (played by Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise) and also Holly Robinson Peete, who played officer Judy Hoffs. Also she was on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. Yeah I went there.

The box was full of doves, because they make you look
badass. Also, yes those are prostitutes.

21 Jump Street was well received by critics, mostly for the reasons I talked about above. It manages to be nostalgic at the same time it picks fun at the very same nostalgia, and that's no easy feat. The film was very successful in the box office, opening at #1 on its first weekend, and grossing a total of over 200 million dollars against its 42 million dollar budget. This was more than enough for Sony Pictures to immediately begin pursuing a sequel, though honestly I'm not sure if they could make that work as well as this movie did, though it certainly wouldn't be a 'whole ten yards' situation. (no Bruce Willis, I will never forgive you for deciding to appear in that movie). This movie is a rare instance of a recent comedy that did well and I actually thought was funny. Don't just take my word for it though, check it out for yourself, I doubt you'll regret it.

That's it for today! Join me on Saturday, when I explore a history of bad choices in my Keanu Reeves Hall of Shame. See you then!