In their immortal wisdom, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, once said that there’s a time limit between something bad happening and it being socially acceptable to poke fun at it. Back in the 80s & 90s, cop comedies were an absolute guaranteed money spinner. Just take a grizzled veteran (Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, Nick Nolte in 48 Hrs) and team him up with a slightly madcap, wise-cracking and preferably racially contrasting accomplice (Mel Gibson & Eddie Murphy respectively) and watch the dollars pile up.
Then 9/11 happens, the men and women of America’s emergency services are, quite correctly, raised to the status of national heroes and suddenly it’s no longer cool or popular to poke fun at the boys in blue. Parker & Stone placed a time frame of 22.3 years before a subject drifts into (or in this case, back into) the waters of comedy. Seems they were a little off, because a mere 11 years later, here’s a good old-fashioned buddy cop-comedy.
For those of you who were just a twinkle in your father’s eye in the 80s, the original incarnation of 21 Jump Street was a reasonably successful attempt to marry high school drama and cop show, in which a team of youthful-looking police officers went undercover to solve crimes in colleges and high schools. Whilst retaining the concept, this new movie incarnation varies drastically in tone, giving us a mix of Judd Apatow/Todd Phillips-esque semi-improvised conversational comedy and traditional explosive action. Two rookie cops, one tough but stupid (Channing Tatum), one weak but smart (Jonah Hill), are assigned to the resurrected Jump Street undercover program and tasked with stopping the supply and distribution of a new synthetic drug that has become popular at a local high school.
There are plenty of good things to say about 21 Jump Street. For a start, it is very funny in places. That might sound like a basic point to make, but you’d be amazed at how many so-called comedies put far too little of this simple ingredient into the mix. One only needs to look back to other recent Jonah Hill release, The Sitter, to see an example of dereliction of duty on this front, or for an even better example, any Vince Vaughn film in the last five years. Fortunately here, the laughs flow quite freely thanks to a combination of smart writing on the part of Scott Pilgrim and Project X scribe Michael Bacall and a really excellent leading partnership between Hill and Tatum. No, really, Channing Tatum, he’s great.
Given his career to date, it would be quite easy to make your mind up about Channing Tatum. From his debut as generic square-jawed chump in Sam Jackson vehicle Coach Carter, to dancing square-jawed chump in the Step Up series, punching squared-jawed chump in Fighting, military square-jawed chump in G.I. Joe and Dear John, and Roman square-jawed chump in The Eagle, there has, up til now, been a very definite theme developing in his output, and many, myself included, were beginning to label him the poster-boy for the generic, inspiration free slump Hollywood has been mired in for some time now. Well, I fear we may have jumped the cynical gun on this one because he delivers a comic performance of extremely high calibre, more than a match for his relatively experienced counterpart Hill, who, whilst funny in all the right places, is somewhat limited to the standard, “awkward guy shtick he’s well known for.
It’s a shame then that Jump Street’s quality dips somewhat in its second half. Where the film succeeds early on in playing off the worn out stereotypes of high school & cop comedies, it stumbles in its later stages by actually becoming a worn out and stereotypical high school & cop comedy. Once the action kicks in to gear, the funny gets lost and although it never truly strays into the realm of a “bad film, it’s disappointing, though perhaps not unexpected, that it is unable to sustain the really superb quality and momentum of its opening hour or so.
As has already been stated though, the Hollywood’s comedy arm has been so filled with junk lately that it’s becoming hard to find a vein, and, to push this drug analogy to breaking point, 21 Jump Street represents plenty of highs per gram. It’s laugh out loud in places and decently exciting in others, and whilst by no means perfectly balanced and a little bland in places, is certainly worthy of its street value. Sorry.
Overall Verdict: One of the better comedies you’re likely to see this year. Simple charm and good lead performances are enough to distract from some balance and pacing issues and make 21 Jump Street a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Reviewer: Alex Hall