Review of 21 Jump Street (2012) by Jport — 21 Oct 2013

As I sat in the theatre with the popcorn to my left and a Mountain Dew to my right, I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by a comedy that should be named movie of the year. 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, is a flick that can be enjoyed by adult viewers everywhere. With random jokes, and a well-picked cast, directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord have built up an idea that could be made into a hit sequel sometime in the next few years.

New York Times says it best when they state, “It wants to be fun and, to a perhaps surprising extent, it is.” The movie takes place in a stereotypical high school setting. Tatum and Hill play two newly graduated undercover cops that attend a school where they need to bust a dealer who plans to spread what “21 Jump Street (2012)” on IMDb calls “a new synthetic drug ring” to a more broadened population. With an unknown identity, the supplier is like a mystery that must be solved by the two main characters, Jenko and Schmidt, respectively.

Both Tatum, whose character is Jenko, and Hill, who plays Schmidt, are two actors that seem to work in sync with each other, given the correct setting and plot. They were made for their parts in the movie. Their characters are described as two of the worst cops that the force has ever seen. As a result of their actions, the two are reassigned to 21 Jump Street, where they are given a new task to pose as typical teens in high school. Jenko is one that was once Mr. Popularity in high school, while Schmidt was a nerd. Some of the audiences’ laughs seem to come from the two having a social status swap when they get to the high school. Schmidt takes the place as the man on campus, while Jenko ends up at the bottom of the social status ranking. The two cops then begin to go their own ways in this new setting, but their heads stay focused on their reasoning for being there. Schmidt gets into the social cliques of high school, where his popularity goes to his head. Jenko befriends as group of nerds that indirectly help solve the case of who the supplier of the drug is.

Along with the two main actors, a movie cannot be made without a strong supporting cast. It must have been difficult, but it can be seen that both Miller and Lord did a successful job with their choices for supporting actors. Starring in this movie includes Short Term 12 award-winning actress Brie Larson. Accompanying her includes Dave Franco, and Captain Dickinson played by Ice Cube. The group had many memorable lines that will continue to bring laughter to viewers for years to come. When watching the movie make sure you pay attention to the references towards “Korean Jesus.” This is one reference that I would personally not like to spoil anymore for you viewers who are reading this review.

For all viewers who seek a good laugh and a good pain in the ribs due to laughing so hard, then 21 Jump Street should be the movie of choice. With a memorable cast, and an outrageously hysterical sequence of events making up the plot, nobody should have a reason to not enjoy this movie. The movie can easily go down in history for its many jokes and humorous puns. 21 Jump Street puts many thoughts in viewer’s heads; Rolling Stone Reviews says it well by justifying, “Are we always still in high school in our heads? 21 Jump Street thinks so. And Hill and Tatum are just the crazy-ass comedy team to prove it.