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268 reviews in total

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152 out of 211 people found the following review useful:
Touche..., 16 March 2012

Author: CraigLindholmMedia

Precursor: I just moved back into town two days ago and had made plans to see one of my old friends tonight. I did not want to see this movie, and wouldn't have under any other circumstances but my friend really wanted to and the tickets were free so I went.

Review itself: This is of no disrespect to Jonah Hill, his fashion of humor or his fans at all, but I, personally have grown tired of what seems to now be a plethora of wanna be Hangover and Superbad's. (The success of Project X seriously worries me...). Anyways, having that mind set approaching tonight and considering the fact I didn't laugh once during the 21 JS trailer, green or red band... I really wasn't expecting all that much out of the experience aside from leaving the house and catching up with a buddy.

But damn.

I honestly thought this movie was great. Yes, there were parts I wasn't fond of... a bit of the dialogue seemed to me to be vulgar strictly for the sake of being vulgar... there was the usual expected Jonah Hill trademarked myriad of penis jokes and one extremely unnecessary shock gag but the majority of the movie was, to me, surprisingly satirical/smart/relevant in today's society, self-aware, and situationally hilarious. Even the dumbest and most profane of this movie's jokes and clichés seemed to know that they were such and were given the proper comedic build up/context to at least warrant a chuckle. This movie had some surprisingly clever dialogue throughout and some of the best supporting characters I've seen in recent comedies (Ice Cube, The Principal, etc..) What really stood out to me though was the editing. 21 Jump Street features some of the most awkwardly humorous camera shot transitions, scene changes and music integration. Despite it's faults, I found this to be a damn hard movie to hate, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun weekend movie.

All in all... genuine, clever, vulgar yet respectable comedy with some heart.

IMO a very good career move for both Hill and Tatum.

Stoked for the sequel.

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101 out of 149 people found the following review useful:
Best Comedy so far of 2012, 18 March 2012

Author: JeanRalphio from Australia

So if you like Jonah Hill and comedies with really great cameo appearances, I think you would definitely like this film.

I must admit I expected this to be at the same standard as maybe The Change-Up or The Hangover Part II which weren't terrible movies, but they weren't the funniest movies I have seen either. This movie is more on par with The Hangover (the first installment), Superbad and Anchorman.

The chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is brilliant, and it's nice to see Tatum in something other than his standard rom-com or "rom" setting. I was already laughing from the first scene, which is generally hard to do and the humour was the correct balance of wit and slapstick. There were actually a lot more clever jokes than I expected and there were some scenes were I couldn't even control my laughter in a full cinema.

All in all, I'm not saying this movie is for everyone but the way I would tell you to see it is if you like Jonah Hill's ridiculous dialogue with sometimes unnecessary swears and you have no expectations of it being anything like the original TV show, I would definitely recommend this one! Best comedy film I've seen at the cinema in 2012.

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68 out of 99 people found the following review useful:
I have to be honest, I never expected to like this movie, but boy was it good., 25 March 2012

Author: lagudafuad from Nigeria

Buddy cop movies have been losing their waves. The thing is that all the buddy cop movies after Rush Hour 1 have been either too dull to comprehend or just mildly interesting and could just pass as a movie you've seen just to mark the register that you've seen it.

Based on a TV series of the same name which aired on Fox Network between 1987 and 1991, the series focuses on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools, colleges, and other teenage venues. The 2012 movie adaptation also had the former cast of the series; Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise play a minor role.

Written by Jonah Hill who also starred in it, 21 is a movie that suits a cinema viewing with a box of popcorn at your side. Hill's performance was on a mild okay side, but the main cheese in the movie was Channing Tatum, who transcended from a jock to a nerd and still maintained his persona. I guess the most fun I had was when I saw Ice – Cube talking to the duo.

The movie was directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). The directors and writers made sure you didn't have to go see the original to get the full taste of 21, as the film made do of the current pop culture in our time and how ironic and dumb it looks to make a fun movie and enough juice left to make another.

21 makes fun of everything in its path, even down to drugs, and how we kept expecting things to blow up and they just don't. The jokes keeps coming in from every corner making you laugh although.

The high moments in the movie was whenever the duo were together, the low moment was when they were apart.

The plot had the duo Hill and Tatum as Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko (respectively), get deployed as undercover cops to a high school to bust a drug ring, and everything you'd expect to happen, doesn't. That's the fun of the movie.

All in all, why are you wasting time reading this go watch it.

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104 out of 177 people found the following review useful:
Funniest Movie I've Seen In a While, 16 February 2012
Author: nicecardigan from United States

I have never seen the original 21 Jump Street series so I can't compare. I had only watched the trailer and thought it looked alright, but wasn't planning on paying to see it. I received free advance screening passes to see it last night and I am so glad! It is honestly the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. I usually don't laugh out loud but this movie had me (and the rest of the audience) laughing at least every ten seconds.

Who knew Channing Tatum could be so funny? He really steals the show half the movie with his great comedic timing. The back-and-forth that he and Jonah Hill have is so refreshing. They have clear comedic chemistry and play off of each other very well. The dialogue is fresh and hilarious. Another standout actor was Dave Franco. I am a big fan of him and have always found him funny, and he really shines in this movie. Overall, every actor played off the next very well. It's clear they had a great time making this movie.

I can't recommend this enough. If you want a good laugh, then SEE THIS. It has clever, outrageous comedy and some great acting. There was a great cameo surprise towards the end that had the entire theater gasping and laughing. This is one of the few movie experiences I've had where the entire audience enjoyed themselves and laughed out loud, even clapped at some parts. Go see it, you will not regret it!

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72 out of 119 people found the following review useful:
Unexpectedly hilarious and clever. 21 Jump Street subverts all expectations., 17 March 2012

Author: brendanrmorrow from United States

21 Jump Street sounds like a terrible idea on paper: a big screen adaptation of an ABC TV series from the 80s. Was anyone really clamoring for that? Was there any reason to adapt that into a feature film in 2012? It sounds like just another example of Hollywood cashing in on an established franchise, akin to the decision to make a movie based on the board game Battleship. As it turns out 21 Jump Street is barely an adaptation, and it isn't just an excuse to capitalize on an old concept. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team behind the brilliant and absurd Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, use the fact that nobody is too invested in the source material to their advantage, subverting all expectations for what a movie like this would be. The result is a smart, exciting and often hilarious action-comedy with real stakes and a surprising amount of heart.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as Schmidt and Jenko respectively, two rookie cops who went to high school together, though belonging to different social circles. Jenko was the popular jock while Schmidt was the unpopular nerd. When they realize each has something the other one needs, a friendship sparks and they become partners. After a failed drug bust, they're reassigned to a special division when their police station decides to "revive a cancelled program from the 80s" (get it?). They're sent to a local high school undercover as students to investigate and bring down a drug ring. Despite identical titles, I don't know if we can even call this an adaptation of the show. While the TV show was primarily a drama, the film is essentially a satire of movies and shows like 21 Jump Street, fully aware of all of the clichés of its genre.

Writer Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) seems to have realized nobody really cared about a 21 Jump Street movie and instead decided to make something totally different. Early on, in a scene of dialogue that may as well have been delivered directly into the camera, a character explains that there aren't any original ideas these days and so we're stuck rehashing old concepts from the 80s to make a quick buck. In this way and many others, the movie is all about subverting your expectations, which based on this premise are probably very low. It's anything but a lazy cash grab, taking everything you know about buddy cop films and turning it on its head. It embraces the stupidity of its concept too, by constantly acknowledging that Hill and Tatum are way too old to be posing as high school kids, or by having Ice Cube play the stereotypical black police captain from every 80s movie ever, and then outright acknowledging that. In a hilarious early scene Schmidt and Jenko's roles are reversed, with the jock forced to pose as the nerd and the nerd posing as the jock. 21 Jump Street thrives on the unexpected.

Many were initially unsure how Channing Tatum would perform, as he is an actor who has never headlined in any major comedies before. While Jonah Hill is without a doubt the star, having had tons of experience in films like Superbad and Knocked Up, Tatum does a fine job as well and the two actors have great chemistry together. In movies like this with two main leads, the rapport between them can make or break the film. With 21 Jump Street, it absolutely makes it.

That's ultimately why the movie works as well as it does. Any successful comedy needs real stakes. Otherwise, it just feels like a series of Saturday Night Live sketches with no real purpose. A few years ago, Superbad was extremely successful not just for being a goofy and raunchy comedy, but also for having a believable high school friendship at its core. Similarly, 21 Jump Street works because the friendship between its protagonists feels real, and as a result there are real emotional stakes to go along with the satire. Driving this silly, raunchy comedy is a truly interesting story about popularity and friendship in high school, and about how you might act differently if you could go back as an adult. It's easily the funniest comedy in well over a year, but it's not just a vehicle for jokes: 21 Jump Street tells a great story, too.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller seem to love surprising us. As with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street is a movie nobody expected to be great. Its brilliance lies in the fact that it knows all of your complaints ahead of time. Think it sounds like a cheap cash crab based on an 80s property? They make a joke about that. Think Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are too old to play high school kids? They make a joke about that too. It's extremely clever and always two steps ahead of the audience. But what really stands out about 21 Jump Street is that it's not just an enjoyable and hilarious time at the theater, it also tells a genuinely interesting and emotionally compelling story, developing its characters in a way you probably wouldn't anticipate from a raunchy high school comedy.

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59 out of 106 people found the following review useful:
Was this supposed to be funny??, 11 April 2012

Author: Bill Jason

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The movie version of "21 Jump Street" was supposed to be a comedy, I guess. And I guess you would think it's funny if you love the same old jokes about penises over and over from beginning of the movie to the very end, literally.

I thought the movie was going to show how two older, wiser guys go back to high school as undercover cops, and show those young kids what's up. THAT would have been interesting. Instead, they go right back to how they were as kids, bumbling and fumbling their way along, and doing a LOT of stupid things as well.

The juvenile behavior the two leads exhibit ruins any dramatic elements of the movie. They don't act like two adults pretending to be kids, they act more like two kids pretending to be cops.

The original 21 Jump Street with Johnny Depp was a good show. The movie version with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill was just dumb, sorry.

This is easily Tatum's worst film, and I can't stand Jonah Hill. Hill is not funny, just annoying, and it makes sense that he co-wrote the script.

You can tell Hill has no idea what a cool person is actually like, so he throws in about a hundred penis jokes, along with the usual drug and sexual comments, which take no imagination or creativity at all.

Big time bomb.

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48 out of 85 people found the following review useful:
yeah, I was just like you, 22 March 2012

Author: witster18 from United States

I too expected this to stink. Another buddy cop movie, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, based on a lousy 80's television show - doesn't sound all that appealing.

Hill's "The Sitter", completely mediocre, and it's been quite a while since Superbad's success.

Channing Tatum showed his comedic timing during his appearance on SNL. I was still hesitant.

But, I stand corrected.

This is the funniest movie since last years' Bridesmaids.

The key here is the fantastic script. The story isn't rocket-science, and we knew it wouldn't be, but the comedic timing of the leads is spot-on, and they were given a great script to work with.

I found myself laughing multiple times throughout. My spouse concurred. One late, unnecessary gross-out moment brought it down a notch. The film hadn't used any of those gimmicks and didn't need to in the end. It just seemed a bit out of place and distasteful.

The leads did a great job here. Their characters worked exactly how they should in a buddy-cop flick like this. They bounced off each other for an hour and a half, and the result will surely be one of the best comedies of the year, and an outside shot for my 2012 top-25(back-end)if it can hold-on.

Watch out for a sneaky cameo(spoiled by the cast list if you look).

Nice surprise.

Deserves it's ranking here.

Stuck between 7-8, but going with 76/100, so I'm rounding to 8.

You'll enjoy this if you liked:The Other Guys, Starsky and Hutch, If Looks Could Kill, or Blue Streak - even though I think this is actually a clear notch above all of those films.

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55 out of 99 people found the following review useful:
21 junk street, 17 March 2012

Author: markthetranny from imdb

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

An honest review. I can't understand why there are certain people who constantly hype this movie on the IMDb and criticise other better movies. I guess they must be paid to do so. Certainly seems plausible since I've now watched this crapfest. How bad is it? Do you remember the abysmal Ben Stiller butchering of Starsky and Hutch from a while back. 21 Jump Street is worse than that. Hardly surprising given that it stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I've only seen Tatum in one movie before and he was a wooden, dull, boring plank in that. He's no better in this. As a leading man he's even more of a charisma vacuum than Chris O'Donnell.

Still at least he's better than Jonah Hill. Superbad wasn't just the title of his breakthrough movie its a description of his entire career.

He's been doing the same schtick in everything he does and if it was rubbish the first time it stinks like month old festering garbage now.

To make it clear I'm a fan of gross out stupid comedy but not when its as stupid and badly-acted as this. Don't pay to see this. The good reviews are fake. You'll thank me for the warning.

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52 out of 94 people found the following review useful:
This was literally the worst movie I have seen in a while, 7 March 2012

Author: dixie211425 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I liked the original show. I knew that this movie wouldn't be as good. I wasn't prepared for how horrible it was. If I had my own car with me I would have walked out. They took what was good about the show and threw it away. The movie is set in present day, over 20 years after the original show aired. It has Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum go undercover in a school to stop the flow of a new type of drug.

The cops break every law there is. At one point they teabag a criminal. They also break into the evidence room and steal some weed, give alcohol to minors, and consume drugs.

There were very few female characters, most didn't have names. The cast was almost completely white-washed. They used the word bitch way too often and I felt offended. Even the cameos from Johnny Depp, Holly Robinson Peete, and Peter DeLuise fell flat.

I wish I had those two hours of my life back.

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15 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Few laughs in this 'Animal House meets Lethal Weapon' misfire, 4 April 2012

Author: Turfseer from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Despite all the hype, I'm sad to report that 21 Jump Street, the new action comedy based on the 1987 TV series, just isn't very funny. My problem with it, is that Jonah Hill's 'Morton Schmidt' and Channing Tatum's 'Greg Jenko' are so over the top as cops, that you cannot take most of it very seriously at all.

For example, when Jenko can't remember his Miranda warnings, or even worse, when Jenko fires his gun in the park, after tackling a bad guy, these type of things would probably lead to immediate dismissal from the force in real life. And what about, after being expressly prohibited from serving alcohol to minors, the bumbling duo go ahead and serve up drinks at the 'undercover' party, anyway?; not to mention the confiscated marijuana they take from the police property room place, without authorization.

The joke is supposed to be that in reality Schmidt and Jenko are really glorified fraternity members, who just happen to have jobs as police officers. Where I could definitely buy a bunch of 'loose cannon' fraternity members in a film like 'Animal House', where one demented group is pitted against a 'straight' one, it doesn't really work in the police setting, since as stated above, improprieties are simply not tolerated.

While a good deal of the humor of '21 Jump Street' is juvenile in nature, on one occasion it veers into the area of being quite vile. This is near film's end when the bad guy is castrated and somehow, we're ask to laugh when viewing the scene of his detached member. No it's not funny and I hope word gets around that this is the kind of gross 'humor', Hill and his fellow scenarists are trying to peddle.

No need to recount all the details of the plot. Suffice it to say, that Schmidt and Jenko are on a mission to take down assorted bad guys who have been selling a new 'designer drug' in the school. It's your typical buddy movie where Schmidt is the nerd with a brain who can help the intellectually challenged Jenko, and Jenko is the jock with a powerhouse punch who can bring the socially inept Schmidt, out of his shell.

Actually, it's the bad guys, who really keep the story moving along. There's 'Eric', the eco-friendly big man on campus who moonlights as a drug dealer, and his supplier, Mr. Walters, a physical education teacher, whose goofy demeanor masks a huge anger management problem. To top it off, an assorted bunch of nasties, consisting of bikers and gang members, led by the menacing 'Domingo', lend an air of verisimilitude, not found in the antics of the principals, Jenko and Schmidt.

Occasionally, there are a few amusing bits in '21 Jump' including trucks filled with gasoline that fail to explode as well as some funny hallucinations which we get to see, when the protagonists are forced to take drugs in order not to blow their cover. But on the whole, Jonah Hill and co-writer Michael Bacall's frat-boy humor, lacks subtlety and relies on low-level slapstick routines, to get by. At this point, America is so desperate for something humorous in the movies these days, that a mediocre exercise such as this, is hailed as a comic masterpiece!

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