Become a Narc, if you want to go back to school

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2012)

Don't you wish you could go back to high school and get a second chance, if you didn't get the hot girl or weren't academically adept? I pretty much don't care for high school anymore, but shlubby nerd Morton Schimdt (Oscar nominee Jonah Hill of "Moneyball" and "Superbad") and hunky himbo Greg Jenko (Channing Tautm of "Fighting" and "Magic Mike") sure do. They're narcs (undercover cops) in the ribald but fun film version of the late 1980s Fox Network police drama, "21 Jump Street".
Once high school foes, Schimdt and Jenko end up as pals while attending police academy (like the show, the film's locale isn't specified). However, the two are total foul-ups on the field, thereby getting banished to the resurrected Jump Street program, supervised by the no-B.S. Captain Dickson (Ice Cube of the "Friday" films), who assigns them, as siblings, to a school where a new synthetic drug's giving its users crazy highs and morbid endings. Instead of getting a hold of the drug supplier, hilarity ensues: Jenko hangs with the geeks while Schmidt's with both the drama and track & field club, after an ID mix-up; a car chase sequence where nothing flammable explodes, except a truck filled with chickens, and the two throw a party, involving underage teens, alcohol and marijuana. Is anyone here a grown up? With a straight raunchy script by Hill and Michael Bacall ("Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, "Project X"), co- directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs") delightful play around with high school conventions (geeks are cool while jocks are otherwise), getting far (but not too far) from the series, co-created by Patrick Hasburgh and the late Stephen J. Cannell (he served as one of the film's producers before his passing). The wacky drug imagery would have a no-no on the show (broadcast standards and practices, people), but is welcomed here with open arms.
Hill and Tatum are a reliable pair of Peter Pan (the former wears a Peter Pan costume for a school play even!) while Cube, recalling his gangster rap days with a permanent growl, verbally admonishes them. When he threatens to defecate on them while they're wearing snorkels, it's something that can't be erased out of the human mind because it's both crude and hysterical. As popular drug dealer Eric, Dave Franco (James's younger sib) is both sleazy and goofy; he does business while working on the high school's yearbook! As Molly, a drama club member, Brie Larson ("The United States of Tara") is an awkward lover interest for Schimdt, due to age difference and borderline pedophilia (jeez!!!), but she does well in her part. I wish there was more of P.E. teacher Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle of "The Hangover"), but he's relevant to the story. Ellie Kemper ("The Office", US Version) is squirrel-brain cute as a physics teach who geekily crushes on Jenko. Series regulars Johnny Depp, Peter DeLuise and Holly Robinson-Peete make eye-wink cameos as Tom Hanson, Doug Penhall and Judy Hoffs. D.P. Barry Peterson captures comedy bliss in the high school environment.
Though some hard-core fans of the show, which was basically a mash-up of "The Mod Squad" and the TV after school specials of the 1970s and 1980s, will cringe at the coarse humor (ex: a character gets his genitalia shot off and pathetically tries to retrieve it in his mouth while handcuffed), "21 Jump Street" does well with the off-idea of becoming an undercover cop, if you screwed up in high school. It's just like retaking a test!