High School with an Upgrade

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2018)

"21 Jump Street" Is based on a TV show in the late 80's that starred Johnny Deep. It was a police procedural that focuses on a squad of youthful-looking police officers that went undercover, and investaged crimes in the local high school, colleges and their headquarters was a church. Now, the new movie is pretty much the same thing as the TV show; however, it pairs two Hollywood actors that ramp up the energy, and the result is the movie is funny. Its very funny and I was howling throughout. Been a while since I laughed that hard at a comedy.
It begins with, Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill), a chubby high school nerd who has braces and is addicted to Eminem. Greg Jenko, (Channing Tatum) is a wise-cracking & underachieving jock. After both are rejected from their high school prom, the two meet seven years later at the city police academy and become close friends. While expecting to have wild police careers, a stupid stunt lands them in hot water, and they are re-assigned to a special undercover division where they must go back to their old high school to find the dealer of a new synthetic drug and put him behind bars.
How many times do we have to see the same situation where the jocks tortures the nerd? Now I'm one for gags as long as no one gets hurt. In this case, these two characters are funny enough to make you laugh that as soon as I saw Jonah Hill dressed like Eminem, I busted my guts laughing. Enter Greg Jenko who snickers with his buddies when Morton gets tongue-tied trying to ask a girl to the prom. At this point, we know they are going to be misfits.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are the perfect buddy cops that are written so well, they will have you howling with laughter every few seconds with non-stop jokes and humour. Since Tatum is usually not in this type of film, he actually is incredibly funny and proves he is a talented actor. Hill is equally, and their on-screen chemistry is a top notch that without these two actors, this film would not be what it is.
For those that think crude humour jokes are hilarious, Ice Cube plays Captain Dickson, his name would have to have the word "dick" in it, a foul mothered police veteran who can't believe how incompetent these two dummies are. At one point they attempt to arrest a fat bald biker in a park. They manage to capture his buddy, and instead of Mirandizing him, Jenko humps him while Morton shoots a gun in the air because he is their first capture. Not before a slur of dick jokes that will make the easiest of people to laugh. What's even funnier is the wailing screams of mercy the biker lets out when Jenko is humping him for comic effect.
In the second act, Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko go from class to class trying to find the dealer of the drug only to be caught up in wild high school parties and schemes that result in laughs, but a lot of the gags have to do with their partnership, almost like a married couple. There is a sequence where the two take the drug to pass the "I'm not a cop" test and attempt to vomit the drug later. What results is an acid trip like never before. You will have a good time with "21 Jump Street," despite the vulgarity but what do you expect from the guy who was in "Knocked Up" with Seth Rogan?