Sunday 18 March 2012

"You are here because you some Justin Beaver, Miley Cirus lookin' muthas."

Exclaimed Captain Dickson (the legendary Ice Cube) to his two newest Jump Street recruits. I howled with laughter.

After seeing the trailer for '21 Jump Street' at our last visit to the cinema (to see another Channing Tatum number, 'The Vow' may I add) we just knew we had to see it. I have to admit I was slightly skeptical that this could be one of those films where they show all the funny bits in the trailer - it seemed I was the only person in the cinema who deemed it appropriate to snort with laughter from the beginning to the end - but with two of my favourite actors with starring roles, I had to give it a go anyway.

Jonah Hill's roles in 'Superbad', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' and 'Get Him To The Greek' to name just a few, have secured his position as one of our all-time favourite fat-boy funny men, and Channing Tatum has long-since been one of my most-loved Hollywood hunks, following his performance in the likes of 'Dear John' and 'Step Up'. In fact, it's not just me who holds a bit of a torch for him, after my boyfriend made a slightly worrying comment along the lines of "If I was gay..." Well, you can guess the rest - sorry Rob!

In a nutshell, these two slightly immature young-looking cops are given an undercover assignment to go back to high school and infiltrate a teenage drug ring. Now that may sound a bit serious, but believe me, there are plenty of laughs along the way.

Years ago at high school Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) couldn't be more opposite. Schmidt was a typical stuttering nerd, whilst Jenko was the stereotypical popular knobhead of the school. But upon graduating and joining the police force, they became best buds. However, the life of a cop was not quite all the car chases and firing-you-gun-whist-jumping-through-the-air action that the boys had hoped for. In fact, it was more riding geeky police bicycles through the park warning kids not to feed the ducks stylee.

Having never made an arrest before, the partners saw their opportunity when they spotted a group of thuggish motorcyclists smoking dope in the park. However, not knowing the miranda rights (You have the right to remain silent, etc) didn't do them any favours, and soon they were transferred to 21 Jump Street to take on an undercover assignment.

The pair were sent back to school with false identities posing as brothers. The roles were very much reversed as the assignment gave Schmidt to chance to have the high school experience he had always wanted; popularity and a prospective prom date. Whereas Jenko found he didn't fit in quite as well as he had hoped, hanging around the science labs with his geeky mates.

Anyway, to cut a long story short and avoid giving anything away, this movie is jam-packed full of awkward teenage moments, hilarious gags and laugh-out-loud comments.

I fully and whole-heartedly loved this movie, and it held my attention from the word go, whereas some action comedies tend to flesh it out with unnecessary plot points. I urge anyone who even remotely likes to laugh to go and see this while you can; don't do what I am so guilty of doing, by waiting for it to come out on DVD and then be reduced to about two quid in Morrisons.

All in all, 21 Jump Street is 109 minutes of side-splitting, snort-your-pop-down-your-nose moments.


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