21 JUMP STREET
When: Now showing
Where: General release
FILM adaptations of much-loved TV shows are always fraught with danger. For every success, there’s a (gulp) Sex and the City 2. When things go awry, it not only disappoints fans, but goes some way to tarnishing the original program’s legacy.
Fans of iconic 1980s cop drama 21 Jump Street – the show which launched a little-known actor named Johnny Depp – needn’t worry. The much-hyped film adaptation is little more than a contemporary gross-out comedy, with the same premise as the TV show (young cops go undercover in a high school).
As we quickly establish, thanks to a flashback to 2005, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) weren’t exactly best friends in high school. Schmidt was a nerd and luckless with the ladies; Jenko was a stereotypical jock. Seven years later, the pair reunite as fresh-faced cops where, following a botched drug bust, they are sent back to school to investigate a sophisticated drug ring that led to a student’s death.
What they discover is that teenagers have changed – now, they all care about global warming and inclusiveness. They also learn the identity of the school’s main dealer, Eric (Dave Franco – James’ younger brother), and spend the rest of the film trying to befriend him and his ‘‘cool’’ friends to eventually bust him.
Hill, who scored an Oscar nomination for his recent dramatic turn in Moneyball, is back to his regular loser-with-a-heart-of-gold routine and Tatum is surprisingly at home in a comedic role.
The laughs fly thick and fast, and there’s plenty of swearing, prolific drug use and jokes about bodily functions (in other words, don’t take your mum). But there’s also some decent action, including a thrilling car chase and a few shoot-outs.
Rapper Ice Cube steals every scene he is in as foul-mouthed cop chief Captain Dickson, while Depp himself pops up with a surprising cameo.
As a lowbrow teen comedy, 21 Jump Street ticks all the boxes. As a homage to the TV program, it’s all over the shop. Make sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for.
