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Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star as undercover policemen posing as high schoolers, in this comic re-boot of the popular 1980s TV series, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. In many respects, it’s the same raucous, R-rated comedy you see every other week at the multiplex: nonstop profanity, sex chatter, boozing and drugging, and a certain laziness of purpose. Sure, a character in the film offers a meta-comment about remaking stuff from the past because there are no new ideas left, but even the film’s self-awareness of its creative lameness can’t completely excuse it.
That said, if your tastes run toward this sort of comedy, this is a superior iteration of it, and you should get some laughs. Hill plays his usual role of clueless shlub (though at a considerably lower weight), and Tatum proves he can do silly comedy. The story has some fun inverting expectations, whether about action films or the clique-ish roles people play in high school. Fans of the TV series might or might not appreciate the send-up, but they will be rewarded by some cameo appearances from some 21 Jump Street OGs.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2012.
Your review makes me think you don’t care for the debauchery that is being spewed out of Hollywood these days. I can’t say I disagree, but unfortunately, if I don’t want to keep watching the same old movies I purchased, I have to settle. This movie is genuinely funny and heartfelt, debauchery aside. Although I didn’t see this movie in the theater, I’m glad I watched it with my Dish co-worker on our movie night at my house and I’m glad he saw it on the Dish Online website, and suggested it. Now when I want to stream a movie rental, instead of waiting for one in the mail when I’m in-between movies, I search on Dish Online since everything is so easy to look at and decide.