DVD Review: 21 Jump Street

In recent years, Hollywood seems to have been running short on original ideas. The glut of cash-cow remakes and "re-imaginings" of old properties, more often than not, is an excuse to make a lazy movie with name recognition and nothing else going for it. I thought that 21 Jump Street would be one of those movies. I was wrong.

Most people today only know of the television show 21 Jump Street as the starting point for a young Johnny Depp's career. I'm one of them. I've never seen an episode of the original series, but honestly, the conceit is exceptionally simple. Jump Street was (and is) about cops who are relegated to a small division whose job it is to go undercover as high school students. In the film, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill play two young, inexperienced cops who were anything but friends in high school - Tatum's character was a cool jock, while Hill was a nerd. 

The film plays well both as a spin on the traditional buddy-cop comedy and as a sly commentary on everything it portrays. The really great thing about Jump Street, besides the smart, tight script, is how self-aware and self-deprecating it can be. When the main characters are reassigned to Jump Street after bungling their first arrest, their captain describes the place as having been dreamt up by a bunch of people who have no original ideas and so have resorted to dusting off old programs from the 80's. Thinly veiled commentary? Sure. But it works. And it is funny. 

This movie stands on its own two legs in all respects. Is it perfect? No, but it sure is hilarious. I fully admit, I tend to shy away from a lot of contemporary Hollywood comedies, because I usually find them needlessly crass and painfully unfunny. That's just a personal feeling, and its one of the things that kept me from paying to see this movie in theaters. Jump Street subverted my expectations entirely in that regard. 

Watching the main characters return to high school and be totally blindsided by how the definition of 'cool' has changed in just a few years (Hill's character becomes 'cool', while Tatum's jock is suddenly 'lame'), is fantastic. The role reversal makes for some genuinely interesting (if slightly shallow) character development. The rest of the movie is purely knock-down, drag-out fun. Realistic? Absolutely not. Most of the things these guys do in service of solving their case are so illegal it shouldn't even be funny. But it is. I kind of want to make my college roommate (who is majoring in Criminal Justice and wants to become a cop) watch this so I can see his head explode over just how out there it is. Still, it works on all kinds of levels. 

Johnny Depp does have a cameo in this movie, and let me say, it is fantastic. It fits perfectly with the story and doesn't feel shoehorned in. Plus, its the most badass (and funny) Depp has been in years. I would pay to see an entire movie featuring his character in this film if it was done right. 

If you haven't seen it yet, this movie is well-worth the price of a rental. Fun, engaging, and plain old enjoyable. Check it out.