This is a remake of the 1980’s TV show 21 Jump Street starring Johnny Depp and although I only maybe saw a couple of episodes of the old show, this movie is very different. Is that a good thing?
It depends on whether or not you like crass humor. The approach here was to turn the concept of the TV show, instead into a comedy with two bumbling cops who are much too old and have to go back to High School to solve a case. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of the near universal approach to comedy today which centers on private part jokes, massive swearing, and blue improv lines, there were quite a few jokes that hit in this.
Specific credit needs to go to both Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum who have great chemistry and are pretty funny as a duo. Also, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who also wrote and directed the much more clever and surprisingly funny Lego Movie) do a good job here mining the TV show for a lot of laughs. If you like this sort of comedy, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen lately.