Movies: 21 Jump Street

Score: *** out of *****

Long Story Short: 21 Jump Street is a fairly conventional comedy based on an earlier TV show; two young, polar-opposite cops who band together in an undercover drug sting at a high school. Sadly, there's little spice to this adaptation, with mediocre performances, little creativity, and few big laughs. It's solidly done overall and still entertaining, but you'll also likely forget about it before long.

Now for my second movie review of the year... unfortunately, one month after its release in theaters. Well, hopefully you can either see if you agree with me, or take my review into consideration for a rental/Netflix viewing later. This film, like some others I see in the theater, did not interest me when I saw the trailers. But it got quite positive review on Rotten Tomatoes, so I thought I'd give it a shot; it had been awhile since I'd seen a comedy, anyway. 21 Jump Street (which is based on the late '80s TV show starring Johnny Depp) was directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

A very brief introduction shows high school kids Morton (Hill) and Greg (Tatum) as cliched opposites - Morton the quiet nerd and Greg the buffoonish jock. Their paths cross again soon after graduation, however, when they both enroll in the police academy. There they team up to bolster each other's weak spots - Morton's physical training and Greg's procedural knowledge - to join the force. The two are made partners in a low-level role, but their personalities still conflict and it ends up in the debacle of a routine arrest.

Morton and Greg are transferred to a new undercover department housed, appropriately, in an old church. Their first assignment is to enroll in a local high school where a new drug is running rampant and caused a recent fatality. Unfortunately for Morton and Greg, their assigned student identities get switched, so that maintaining their cover becomes quite a bit more difficult. Of course, the two manage to embrace the aspects of high school life that they had previously resisted, and use them to foil the mysterious drug supplier.

There are a number of different ways that a comedy can be successful, and a good cast is one of the most effective. Here, in reflecting my score for the film overall, the result is... eh. Jonah Hill is certainly the more practiced comedian of the pair and his role is also slightly larger in this film. I think he's a good actor (excellent in Moneyball), but he gives a pedestrian, at times even sub-par, performance here. I was rather skeptical of Channing Tatum's presence in this movie, but he does a decent job. It wasn't anything special, but he at least seemed to put more effort in than Hill, and he surpassed my expectations. High schooler Brie Larson as Hill's love interest (kind of a creepy idea) is just kind of there, but dealer Dave Franco is a convincing cool kid asshole. Ellie Kemper (Office) and Rob Riggle (Daily Show) have small but humorous parts as teachers. Ice Cube clearly tries to be funny as the undercover boss, but generally fails. I was excited to see Nick Offerman (Parks & Rec) and Jack Johnson (New Girl) in the cast, too, but they have tiny parts, thus wasting their considerable talents.

A comedy also needs a solid structure, whether it's serious or silly, and either consistent laughs or at least several big ones. 21 Jump Street's story formula is not exactly original, but it's good enough. Tatum fits his part in the mold better than Hill, which obviously has something to do with his better performance, relatively speaking. There are certain parts of the story that are made for laughs; the film cashes in on some of these, but others play out with little creativity or humor. The opening police debacle works, and the ending does not, for example. The drug aspect doesn't get overload attention and jokes, fortunately, but there is a clever use of YouTube-like presentation that works well. On the other hand, there are sadly more instances of attempted humor that falls flat on its face (ie: Hill almost getting his cover blown by a completely oblivious relative) than gut-busting riots - in my opinion.

***

I'm really not sure why 21 Jump Street received all the positive critical praise that it did. It wasn't a bad film either; it was really just a middle of the road comedy, one that skews toward younger viewers but not to an extreme. Case in point, I actually saw this more than a week ago, and had to rely quite a bit more heavily on Wikipedia than usual to remember everything that happens in it. It's solidly done, but there's little to give it the kick in the pants that a comedy needs to really shine: a great star or ensemble, or a creative story, or a few outstanding scenes, etc. Jonah Hill is unable to carry the show alongside comedy newbie Tatum, unlike Will Ferrell's excellent job in The Other Guys pulling along the comically inept Wahlberg. I suppose if you are a particular fan of Hill or Tatum, or if you were a fan of the TV show, I'd go see it. Otherwise, you can do better.