❆ ❆ ❆ 3 Mittens ❆ ❆ ❆

As a film 21 Jump Street shouldn’t work. It’s too many things at one time: a remake of a 80s teenage PSA tv drama, a buddy movie, a “back to high school” flick, a cop thriller, and a rom com. And yet, it works, mostly because the leads, Channing Tatum (less mumbly than in The Vow) and Jonah Hill clearly enjoy each other’s company. Their genuine enthusiasm for their roles as newbie cops out to solve their first big case is infectious. I laughed from almost the first frame to the last. Well, a few frames in, since the setup scene follows Hill’s Schmidt being tortured by Tatum’s Jenko in high school and I just don’t find those “Josie Grosie” kinda scenes funny. Of course, since both boys end up crying about the prom within 5 minutes of meeting them, it becomes clear that Jenko isn’t necessarily a bad guy, he’s just trying to follow the set rules of being popular. After meeting up again at Police Academy, the two quickly realize that they need each other: Jenko needs Schmidt’s study skills and Schmidt needs Jenko’s physical prowess. A little too quickly and conveniently, the past is seemingly forgotten and a genuine relationship between dudes who wanna be awesome cops bustin’ the bad guys forms. Until, of course, this odd couple ‘effs it up and are subsequently sent to the titular ’21 Jump Street program’ where they have to go back to high school to infiltrate a party drug distribution ring.
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