This movie caught me by surprise

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2012)

Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) are seniors in high school in the year 2005. Morton is a nerd and fails to ask a girl out at the prom. Greg is a popular kid who didn't graduate in high school. Seven years later they meet again at the police academy and become friends. Morton and Greg got themselves in trouble after arresting one of the drug dealers, but forgot to memorialize the Miranda Rights. The two are relocated at 21 Jump Street. Their new Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), who is a dick (the name says it all), tells them that some kid overdose some drug that causes them hallucination and radical behavior. Their assignment is to go undercover in high school as teenagers and arrest the supplier before the drugs gets into the wrong hands.
While most fans think that the film is a remake of the 80's hit show, its not. In fact it is a direct sequel of the original show. Some of the original cast is back, but only for a brief amount of time. So does the "sequel" works? The answer is yes. What surprises me is how much I enjoy 21 Jump Street. I haven't had a good laugh for a very long time. Usually comedies do not have good plots, but 21 Jump Street works. Sure it's not the best plot ever, but it is good enough for this kind of genre. Jonah Hill is great as usual as a comedian because that's what he's good at, but Channing Tatum caught my attention. Known for his usual romantic type cast characters, he has proved himself that he could be funny as well. There are two things that I did not like about this movie, but it isn't bad at the same time. One is that the action sequence was quite useless because it was poorly directed, but at the same time it was funny to watch. **Spoiler alert** For example, in one scene Morton and Greg are being chase by biker gangs and every time when they take one of the gangs, the bikes ending up crashing into the truck which carries gas tanks, but doesn't explode, however when one of the bikes crash into the truck that carries chickens it explodes. It was pointless, but it was funny at the same time **Spoiler Ends**. Another issue that I had was that the filmmakers were trying to be serious for the last 30 minutes of the film, but it didn't work, but at the same time at least I'll give them credit for trying.
21 Jump Street is one of the best comedies that I've seen in a while. If you want good laughs, you should definitely check it out. It's worth watching it in theaters.
B+