Saturday, 31 March 2012

21 Jump Street

21 JUMP STREET ***

Comedy fans can breathe a sigh of relief…He’s back! After branching out and starring in oscar-nominated biographical drama, Moneyball earlier this year, Jonah Hill has returned to the comedy screen. Our much-loved Superbad actor buddies up with Channing Tatum in the latest comedy flick which promises over a hundred minutes of fun, laughter and heaps of silliness.



Newly-assigned police officers Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are far from satisfied with riding their pushbikes around the park rescuing kid’s balls from the lake. The incompetent officers fail to successfully undertake their street duties and are sent to 21 Jump Street on an investigation to find out who is supplying a popular drug being used in a nearby high school.

Desperate to make their first arrest, the two move back into Schmidt’s parents house and “cool” it up ready to return to school and “bust some ass” to prove their worthiness in the force. But on their first day they find that school has changed- in the first few minutes of entering the gates they find themselves enemies of the fellow students (Dave Franco being one of them, starring as the high-school alpha male), in the principles office being threatened to be expelled, and accidentally switching their undercover identities. Tatum- now science-geek enrolled in Chemistry, and Hill- now athletic popular kid enrolled in Drama/art, the couple find themselves reliving each others past lives as teenagers in school. Chuck in a hallucinogenic drug in the mix and we have comedy gold just waiting to unfurl.

As the unlikely heroes become torn between their investigation and new life at high-school their brotherhood is tested and their future as policemen put on the line. A simple, predictable plot but nevertheless providing exactly what it says on the tin- a fun-filled and laugh-out-loud tale of what happens when you throw two grown dummies back into high school. For instance, picture this: Tatum dressed in a science bauble jumper and Hill dressed as Peter Pan in a pink Volkswagen Beetle chased by a mob gang of angry bikers down the highway- certainly not your average Hollywood car chase!

Jonny Depp (that’s right, the Jonny Depp) even makes an unlikely five-minute appearance as the bike-gang member reveals himself as an undercover cop too. Who knew Depp was capable of going un-noticed on screen for that long. His cameo is tribute to the 1987 TV series of the same name in which he starred in over 80 episodes.

With a naturally comical on-screen presence both Tatum and Hill are a lovable duo that keep us laughing till the very end.

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