unexpectedly funny!

Rating: 9/10 (19 May 2012)

First off, I don't normally go for comedies but as I find myself in LA waiting for a flight departing in 8 hrs I had a plenty of time on my hands. Went off to the local multiplex and found not much on, my choices were The Lorax, John Carter, 21 Jump Street amongst others. So I opted for what I thought was the best of a bad bunch and went to see 21 Jump Street.
I had little knowledge of this film only that it is a update of an old TV show from the 80s and that it now follows more of a comedic route than it's origins. It stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as two young high school kids from the opposite spectrum of the popularity scale. Schmidt (Hill) is a geek who doesn't get to go to prom and is ridiculed by his fellow students whereas Jenko (Tatum) is the typical high school jock who is popular with everyone and believes he will be crowned the prom king until he finds he's is unable to attend due to his poor grades. So far so predictable.
After graduation, they both enrol in the police force and Jenko spots the opportunity to team up with Schmidt to pass the police exam to become fully fledged police officers. They form a friendship and become partners. No plot surprises there, but what does come through is the two leads energy and exuberance. The two stars provide an engaging and very strong performance which I must admit caught me by surprise (especially from Tatum, who knew he could do comedy so well?).
As they bumble through a routine arrest the police force believe their youthful appearance would work well in their special unit called 21 Jump Street. The main directive of this special task force is to infiltrate high schools and tackle a new synthetic drug being dealt to students. They embark on the undercover project and it's here where the majority of the comedy comes about. A mix up occurs and as a result they are forced to pretend to be one another's pre-assigned undercover identities, one an athlete and the other a science nerd and the previous natural roles undertaken in their own teen years are finally broken.
It's safe to say the jokes do come thick and fast and there is many a moment when I found myself laughing out loud. What is surprising about the whole film isn't the actual assignment but the characters chance to relive their high school experiences and their journey to correct past mistakes and in essence play a different role. You begin to care less about the sub-plot of the drug ring they are suppose to smash and become more emotionally involved with the two characters predicament and self discovery.
I can safely say that this film is an absolute blast, which is more hit than miss on the joke front. A film with little in they way of expectations has become a surprise hit as a result. So less said the better (sometimes a film's trailer will give away all it's best moments but there are so many great funny scenes it would be impossible to do this!). I was very impressed by Tatum as I would never have expected him to do so well in a comedy performance and if this was anything to go by, he'll have something else to fall back on if his tough guy action roles dry up.