21 Jump Street
This reboot is handled with an air of genuine affection towards the kind of 80s action films and trash TV, whilst simultaneously poking fun at it.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum star in this action comedy based on the 80s TV show of the same name, and written by Hill and Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim Vs the World). They play officers Schmidt and Jenko who are members of the police’s Jump Street unit where officers with a youthful exterior are sent in undercover to the local high school, only to discover that dealing with criminals is nothing compared to reliving high school all over again as they struggle to infiltrate the local drug ring. Cue a series of proudly juvenile comedy set pieces that somehow gel together to create a film that is more than the sum of its parts as the two main characters find their roles inverted. Hill is as good as ever as the socially inept nerd Schmidt, and Tatum provides him with the perfect straight man as smooth-yet-stupid ex-jock Jenko. The duo works well, as together as they try to solve their own crisis of character as well as the case. The script is funny and full of smart, knowing glances to 80s television that are amusing but not overplayed. The supporting cast provide some great characters including Ice Cube as the classic shouty police captain and Ellie Kemper as a sex-starved chemistry teacher. There’s even the odd Depp shaped cameo from members of the original show. This reboot is handled with an air of genuine affection towards the kind of 80s action films and trash TV, whilst simultaneously poking fun at it.
Smiley
