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| 21 Jump Street Official Promotional Poster |
GENRE – Action, Comedy
DIRECTOR – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Spoiler Alert: Parts of the story may be revealed.
PLOT – In high school, Schmidt, played by Jonah Hill, is portrayed as a loser in life, but a geek when it comes to academics. On the other hand, Jenko, played by Channing Tatum, is the super cool kid in the same school. 7 years later, in 2012, Schmidt and Jenko apply for the post of police officers. Being the geek, Schmidt aces his written exams but performs poorly in physical training. However, Jenko is extremely fit but poor in academics. For personal gains, both decide to be friends and train each other in the respective fields that they lack in.
They end up being rookie cops and partners to each other on bike (cycle) patrol, coveted to make their 1st arrest as police officers. Being amateur cops, they mess up their 1st attempt of catching criminals and are transferred to a police department at 21 Jump Street, which is responsible for busting drug dealers.
They are sent undercover back to High School, where they are expected to infiltrate the suppliers’ gang and find the dealer. Reminiscing their past, they plan to be the cool kids, only to realize that times have changed. Adjusting to the new environment, Jenko ends up punching a kid and is instantly given a final warning by the principal.
After another goof up in their names, they end up switching their undercover identity. Jenko ends up with a bunch of geeks in AP classes and Schmidt finds himself auditioning for the role of Peter Pan for a school show. While the auditions and practices are taking place, Schmidt falls in love with Molly, played by Brie Larson, who to be honest, looks a tad old to be attending high school.
During their classes and practices, they close in on the supplier, played by Dave Franco. Schmidt infiltrates the suppliers’ gang as Jenko taps the main supplier’s phone to find out more about the deals that are going down and the people involved.
REVIEW – Being a remake of the 21 Jump Street TV series that aired in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the movie does not have a strong storyline. However, it does have its fair share of comedy. With recent comedy movies (and sitcoms) being a shame more than anything else, the comedy scenes will not fail to give you a good laugh; thereby maintaining your interest. The movie is a bit of a disappointment when it comes to the ridiculously inappropriate action scenes (final chase sequence in limousines). Jonah and Channing do not look convincing when they go to high school as undercover cops. In fact, Channing, with his ripped body, fails to convince as a high school student before going undercover, in 2005, during his actual schooling days as depicted in the movie.
Not to forget, the drug around which the whole story revolves looks like a candy that probably a 5 year old would be eating.
The direction has been just average as the movie has a lot of goof ups. In the chase sequence, when the heroes are making a run for their life on a busy highway, you can see that the cars are just parked for the sake of shooting the scene. Another instance in the same scene is when one of the members of the biker gang is revving up his bike to accelerate and at the same time, holding the pistol in his right hand, which is impossible; as technically, all bikes are right hand drive. As directors (Chris and Phil), this is their 1st real movie after Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was an animated flick. Hopefully, they will improve with time, adding a bit for of realism to the plot.
The movie does bring out a social message about friendship and the softer side of cops; but that’s about it. Don’t expect too much from the story and watch it for the sake of comedy scenes, which will crack you up and it is at least a onetime watch.
Let me know what you thought of it in the comments below.
DISCLAIMER: This review is ONLY a personal opinion about the movie. It is NOT a paid (cash or kind) review of the movie, OR any person (living or dead) associated to the movie in any way.
The promotional poster image is a property of its respective owner(s). Image has been used only for illustrative purposes and I do not claim ownership of the content of the image.
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