21 JUMP STREET is this generation’s Starsky & Hutch! I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it’s true! 21 Jump Street is this generation’s answer to the slightly previous generation’s 2004 remake of the forgettable cop show from the ’70s! “You peckernecks wouldn’t know a contemporary riff on a cheesy cop show if it crawled up your iPad while you were tweetin’,” we used to tell our slightly younger siblings back in 2009. “In my day, we had Owen Wilson! And Snoop Dogg!” WELL NO LONGER! IT’S OFFICIAL! THIS GENERATION HAS TAKEN WHAT WAS OURS, WHICH WE TOOK FROM OUR PARENTS, AND MADE IT THEIR OWN! AGAIN!
Thing is, even while pop culture is devouring its own tail, it manages to shit out an occasional gem. 21 Jump Street is that gem—a far, far more entertaining film than it has any business being. Neither a gritty reimagining™ nor a full-on parody of the source, it’s mostly just a silly take on reliving high school that manages both laughs and, occasionally, a disturbing amount of earnestness.
Jonah Hill plays nerdy, former Eminem wannabe Schmitty, who befriends Jenko (Channing Tatum), the meathead who used to bust his balls in high school, at police academy. Everything from then until Ice Cube sends them back to high school on assignment happens so fast that it almost feels longer in the trailer.
Undercover at school, C-Tates lays out his keys to popularity: (1) Don’t care about anything. (2) If you see someone else caring, make fun of him. (3) Make an example out of the first guy who messes with you. But quickly he finds that the paradigm has switched, and now all the popular kids are faux sensitive and socially conscious. He punches out the first guy who hassles him, who falls to the ground screaming, “You hit me because I’m gay??” “What? I didn’t know you were gay!” Tatum says, but soon he’s in front of the vice principal for a hate crime. “You punched a little gay black kid in the face?” the vice principal asks, incredulous. It should go without saying, but that small twist is more insightful than anything Stephen Cannell wrote his entire career.
Excellent writing. Please give us more Vince Mancini reviews.
So it’s a comedy?
The 2004 tv show was pretty gritty, from what I remembro.
Also, this review kind of stinks.
ROM! I remembro you. Oh wait, no I don’t. Your comment kind of stinks
It might be your Taco Bell that stinks buddy. Nice review, probably still wait for home viewing, but I kinda like Jonah Hill when he’s not yelling. Does he yell a lot?
Let me guess: you’re all Vince’s personal friends?
“21 Jump Street is this generation’s answer to the slightly previous generation’s 2004 remake of the forgettable cop show from the ’70s!” Awful. That entire first paragraph is a total disaster. Why doesn’t Vince tell us WHAT has been done with this franchise – how it compares to the previous ones? All he tells us is that “it’s been remade, and here are some jokes.”
The rest of the review is hardly more informative or well-written. But yeah, please comment again about my icon or my name.
ROM, I’m not a friend of Vince’s, but I think if you spend 10 minutes reading his writing, you’ll find more creativity and funnier jokes than you’ll find in the average 90 minute Hollywood comedy. Well, maybe you wouldn’t, but someone with a sense of humor would.
Great review, thanks!
Gene, you’re starting to remind me of a shat out gem with a disturbing amount of earnestness.
I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that Vince has other writing out there that’s entertaining and creative. But at the moment I’m reading this review, and it’s crappily written!
Dearest ROM, I don’t know Vince personally, I just enjoy his writing. To be fair, his commentary on the absurdity of Hollywood’s remake/re-imagining/recycled mindset is going to be lost on the uninformed.
To be fair some more, the comparison between the Starsky and Hutch “re-imagining” from 2004 and 21 Jump Street “re-imagining” from 2012 is quite obvious. How did the 21 Jump Street franchise evolve? The exact same way, except it’s a completely unnecessary movie that happens to be quite enjoyable (B+). Any more questions? I’d be happy to answer them with what you already read.
Sassy Times, ah this makes sense to me now! Thanks. I had totally misinterpreted that first paragraph. The first sentence really threw me off because I hadn’t imagined that the 2004 Starsky & Hutch movie was part of a different generation than the 2012 21 Jump Street movie (and it was also unclear to me if he was referring to the shows or the movies).
Anyway, fans of Vince, I’m sorry!
But I have one more question, Sassy Times. “”You peckernecks wouldn’t know a contemporary riff on a cheesy cop show if it crawled up your iPad while you were tweetin’,” we used to tell our slightly younger siblings back in 2009.”
Why 2009?
Fair enough ROM, phasors are now set to stun.
I’m not sure how well I can answer your question, but I will try, since you have declared peace. I thought 2009 might have been when the Ipad was released, but it was actually 1st quarter 2010. Although, as with all Apple products, a generous amount of buzz and speculation would have flooded the internet before the release.
Then I thought it might have been when Twitter was released, but technically that was 2007. Although, 2009 would have been when Twitter’s popularity really started to gain momentum.
The most succinct answer I have for you is that it is simply meant to reflect on how silly it is to have two very similar Hollywood re-imaginings within an 8 year span. Social media and technology then give us an opportunity to analyze such insanity.
There you have it. I have now officially over thought this to oblivion.
@SASSY TIME, ROM: I THINK YOU’RE BOTH FORGETTING THE MIAMI VICE REBOOT.
@Sassy Time: Dude! It’s spelled PHASER. P-H-A-S-E-R. You’re never getting into the academy.