Two former high school colleagues, nerdy Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and jock Jenko (Channing Tatum) are failing as police officers and get one last chance to redeem themselves by joining a special programme for officer to infiltrate high schools. Now Jenko and Schmidt have to go undercover to stop a dangerous new drug from destroying the lives of hundreds of kids. But with the two screwing up from day one, its anyone guess as to whether the dynamic doofus duo can stop the dealers before things go very, badly wrong.
Not a bad film, but room for improvement, but a great comedy, with plenty of hilarious antics. Of course most of the humour is either slapstick, based around cop film conventions or sexual in nature. The last in particular is taken too far once too often, and goes quickly from being funny to just wrong. But the other comedy methods are great for getting laughs.
However apart from that, there really isn't much going for 21 Jump Street. The story is not only simple and easier to read than a comic book, but it rushes through the first half of plot in 20 minutes and goes straight into a string of gags. The acting is pretty good, nothing special and not what you'd expect from an all star cast, although there are some shining moments and it is god to see Tatum doing something other than a hard core action film. Cinematography is basic and for the most part so is editing. There are some action moments in this film, but even those are mostly used as a set up to comedy punchlines.
21 Jump Street is a great film for a good laugh, but a crap film for anything else you might want or be expecting.
