Narcs Throw the Best Parties: 21 Jump Street
There’s a thin line in comedy between stupid/smart and stupid/stupid. 21 Jump Street humps that line for 90 minutes. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s turn out to have great chemistry, and the writing keeps things fun and inane.
I spent many a prepubescent evening watching the original 21 Jump Street team earnestly break up high-school steroid rings. In the updated version, Smidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) play underachieving cops assigned to go deep undercover to break up a hallucinogenic car freshener ring, led by James Franco’s smirking little brother.
Several characters point out how they look twenty-eight, and the movie goes out of its way to make fun of itself. Early on Nick Offerman (who plays Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation) has a speech about how the Police are reviving the dormant 21 Jump Street initiative because “we’re all out of ideas.” The whole movie has a cheeky vibe and brisk pacing. If you think that a misunderstanding about saying you’ll “beat someone’s dick off” sounds remotely funny (I do), you’ll love this movie (I did).
