I was not a fan of the original "21 Jump Street" TV series. To be fair, I don't think I ever watched a full episode. But pretty much everything I heard about it made it another "90210"-type show mixed with about the worst cop show ever. The fact that it was a hit with every girl in school did little to change this image with me. This was a show to actively avoid. Yummy, however, was a teenaged girl when it was on the air so she fit their demographic exactly and loved the show.
When we heard there was a "21 Jump Street" movie our reactions matched what we thought of the original series. She was excited, I felt great dread. When we saw a poster in the movie theater saying that it would star Jonah Hill our opinions changed. Yummy felt dread while I felt a completely new kind of dread.
Then we saw the trailer.
Holy shit. This movie could be good. Nothing like the original, but really funny.
And it was. Holy shit, I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in years.
It does a good job of setting up an odd couple/buddy cop movie with a high school back story that makes you like and give a damn about them. Then, going back to high school gives them a second chance to get it right while their real job gets in the way. Alright, it's a huge cliche, but they really did do a good job with it. I'd say it's on par with what "Avatar" did with the soldier joins the natives against the evil white developers trope. It helps that for each cliche they exploit they take another one and destroy it. The biggest of which is that popularity is a formula that can be exploited to make anyone popular.
It doesn't matter whether you liked or hated the original, you're going to love this movie.
I'm glad I saw it. I look forward to the sequel. I will be getting it on DVD.
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