21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street has all the hype thanks to a strong marketing campaign, and somehow the movie actually lives up to it. The story fits in as a sequel to the original 80s TV series. The undercover program in the film is a revived version of the original. This time, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill play misfit cops who are sent into a school attempting to uncover the truth behind a new drug that led to the death of a teenage student.

Surprisingly for a comedy like this, there are actually some insightful moments among the hysterical situations. Both characters develop as they learn the side of high school they never knew. Hill’s character, a geek in high school, experiences being part of the “cool crowd” and the positives and negatives that come with that. Tatum, originally popular, falls in with the “geeks” and sees the pettiness of high school politics. But don’t get too hung up on these lessons because the comedy is tremendously well written. From poking fun at themselves by insulting the act of recycling old ideas, to showing the odd truth that environmentalism is cool among high school students now, the film really works for its jokes. It passes on the easy, predictable laughs, and the approach works really well.

While Tatum and Hill deserve most of the credit for each giving one of their best performances, the supporting and bit players fill in the blanks well. Ice Cube, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ellie Kemper, Nick Offerman, the list could keep going. But the fact that they rarely go more than a minute without a successful joke or funny moment means that 21 Jump Street is one of the best comedies in recent memory. The film is a perfect example of how to redefine a franchise. Just make the movie really good.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.