REVIEW: 21 Jump Street

Comedies are very difficult to make. The balance between getting the joke right and having enough jokes is really difficult - I'd say even more difficult than making a good scary horror film.

When watching comedy films, I often find them to be very hit and miss (mainly misses though.) I like them because they are "feel-good" films, but I never rally watch many comedy films and laugh out loud all the way through.

Until I saw 21 Jump Street. I laughed. I laughed, a lot.

Apparently, the film is a remake of an 80s American TV show of the same name, but I don't really have any idea what that's all about. But to be honest, that doesn't really matter, because the film stands very well on it's own.

The film revolves around Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) who went to the same school together, but never hung out. Schmidt was a bit of a loner and a geek, whereas Jenko was a jock type and quite popular (nothing like high school stereotypes, eh?!) However, upon leaving school, they both join the police force and find themselves helping each other out in either the physical tests or the academic tests. Once they have become policemen, they are soon demoted to the undercover department, where they have to go undercover as high school students and bust open a drugs ring that has recently killed off a student.

The comedy in this film mainly comes from the quick timings of Jonah Hill and the stereotyped air-head quips from Channing Tatum. The pair work together really well, which is surprising since my last review of Tatum in The Vow wasn't very favourable. However, here in this film, he really finds his feet and shows that he has actually got some talent that can shine on the screen (just not in some schmaltzy romantic comedy!)

School has changed a lot since the pair graduated (2005 - don't I now feel old!!) So, a lot of the comedy comes from the fact that the film flips these stereotypes on their heads. Dave Franco (brother of James Franco) also plays a very good job walking the thin line between annoying and loveable with the popular kid role, Eric Molson. In fact, he wasn't really loveable, but I think I'm biased because I'm a big fan of James Franco and Dave just seemed like he was following in his brother's footsteps very well!

Like I said, the film was very funny and there wasn't much of a time during the film when I was sat twiddling my thumbs. However, there are some jokes that fall flat. Having said this, it doesn't really make much of a difference, because the jokes are laid on so thick, that if you didn't appreciate the joke, then another one will be along in a matter of minutes to cover up for it.

Overall, 21 Jump Street was a very good time with enough laughs to feel like you haven't completely wasted a couple of hours of your life! Tatum really does redeem himself from the pedestrian acting in The Vow and Hill continues to show us why he is one of the most popular comic actors to come out of Hollywood from recent times. Even though he has lost a lot of weight, he hasn't lost any of his comedic timing!

**** / *****