3 Thoughts on 21 Jump Street

1. It had some moments of greatness, but is overall disappointing - I was probably one of the few people that actually thought this film would be decent.  I vaguely remember watching the original show as a kid; I wasn't exactly a fan but I found it mindlessly entertaining.  I was excited about the casting of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum (plus the hilarious, Dave Franco!).  The trailer was really fun and action-packed.  The fact that I assumed it was going to be good is probably the reason that I was one of the few people who found it disappointing.  It was consistently funny but I would argue that it was a bit too consistent (and it just kept repeating the same gags over and over and over...).  Jonah and Channing have perfect chemistry, but the whole "bromance" theme was overdone and just plain stupid. 

2. "Fuck you, Glee" - So the concept of having adults go "back to school" and experience life as a teenager again is obviously not new, but this is the first film that acknowledges the fact that high school isn't like it used to be.  While most films declare the cool kids to be the jocks and the cheerleaders while the smart kids are the losers, this film blurs the line which makes it very confusing for our 2 back-to-schoolers.  Jenko (Tatum), used to be the popular, dumb jock and Schmidt (Hill) used to be the nerdy, loser geek but they find their roles reversed in a post-Glee world.  This was probably the best executed concept of the film.

3. Channing Tatum found his audience - I think everyone expected to trash his performance, like they do with every one of his movies.  The first film I've ever seen him in was, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (a film that I absolutely adore). I think that is the reason I never saw the hatred towards him justified.  He's obviously talented; even with those awful Step Up films you can't deny the guy has talent.  I thought, maybe, he was misguided in his film choices, but in retrospect, his choices are sort of genius because he has won over the female audience with sappy, romantic films like Dear John and The Vow and now he has won over the male audience with this film; looks like he's ready to take over the world.