This Friday, thousands of moviegoers will witness a character being stabbed in the back, two men helping each other vomit and a villain retrieving his amputated penis with his mouth. Although these actions could pass as "torture porn" from an upcoming horror film, they're unpredictably displayed in co-directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord's raunchy, comedic adaptation of the cult show that shot Johnny Depp to stardom, 21 Jump Street.
Channing Tatum and co-writer Jonah Hill star in this vulgar buddy comedy as policeman rookies Jenko and Schmidt. Once mortal enemies in high school, the now friendly, bumbling officers spend their workdays hating their lives as bike cops.
When the dim-witted duo fail to properly read a perpetrator his Miranda Rights in their first big arrest, they're transferred to the old 21 Jump Street headquarters, where they answer to Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), a stereotypical, angry, black cop who enrols the two at a high school in an undercover operation to bust drug dealers and their suppliers.
However, after former high school jock Jenko is forced to hang out with the nerds and former high school outcast Schmidt is immediately accepted into the popular crowd, the pair let the complexity of high school politics interfere with their assignment.
While tainted with unwarranted comedic narcissism and pride, this Never Been Kissed meets Bad Boys 2 comedy manages to hit the right notes with audience members via its self-deprecating jokes, self-aware absurdity, crude gross-out humour and huge number of cameo appearances.
Hardcore fans of the original series will also appreciate the other cameos the younger audience won't be able to spot, while pessimists will enjoy the film if they can laugh at the clichés and accept the fact that there's no Booker appearance.
(Fox)Channing Tatum and co-writer Jonah Hill star in this vulgar buddy comedy as policeman rookies Jenko and Schmidt. Once mortal enemies in high school, the now friendly, bumbling officers spend their workdays hating their lives as bike cops.
When the dim-witted duo fail to properly read a perpetrator his Miranda Rights in their first big arrest, they're transferred to the old 21 Jump Street headquarters, where they answer to Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), a stereotypical, angry, black cop who enrols the two at a high school in an undercover operation to bust drug dealers and their suppliers.
However, after former high school jock Jenko is forced to hang out with the nerds and former high school outcast Schmidt is immediately accepted into the popular crowd, the pair let the complexity of high school politics interfere with their assignment.
While tainted with unwarranted comedic narcissism and pride, this Never Been Kissed meets Bad Boys 2 comedy manages to hit the right notes with audience members via its self-deprecating jokes, self-aware absurdity, crude gross-out humour and huge number of cameo appearances.
Hardcore fans of the original series will also appreciate the other cameos the younger audience won't be able to spot, while pessimists will enjoy the film if they can laugh at the clichés and accept the fact that there's no Booker appearance.