“Not too long ago, I had a roommate. We bonded over movies. We’d been sharing the apartment for a couple months before we ever really talked or hung out. I was ordering food, asked if she wanted in, and then she joined me to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona while we ate. It wasn’t until the next time, under similar circumstances, when the movie was a Harry Potter that we really bonded. From then on, she’s been my big sister. She’s from Greece, so I’ve made it my duty to teach her everything about American pop culture. We lived right by a movie theater, so it often happened that she’d just tag along with me without much prior knowlege about the film.
Eventually we went our separate ways, and a couple months passed without seeing each other. She texted me one weekend saying she needed to get out and do something. She knew I’d be seeing a movie, because really, when isn’t that part of my weekend. I was instructed to just name the time and place. She didn’t care what we were seeing. That movie was 21 Jump Street. An obsession was born.
For her, that became her go to movie to watch for any excuse. Can’t sleep? 21 Jump Street. Background movie while working? 21 Jump Street. Bad day? 21 Jump Street on repeat. Needless to say, she was more than a little excited to hear news of a sequel. She marked the date on her calendar a year in advance, and would text me every few weeks reminding me to just tell her when and where to be. I said I wouldn’t have that information until times were announced 2 days before, but I’d be sure to let her know. Finally the day arrived.
For me, I absolutely loved 21 Jump Street. What I love most about it is that it’s a really smart comedy, just posing as a really dumb one. I love when a movie is self aware, enough to poke fun at itself and only take itself the right level of seriously. It’s the film where I fell in love with Channing Tatum (previously I thought he was hot, but kidna dumb, but dumb turned into endearing here and I never thought of him as dumb again). The scene with Nick Offerman is one of the best five minutes of comedy EVER. The film is just the rare perfect mix of action comedy, my favorite genre. So in my newly acquired “”Sun’s Out Guns Out”” tank top, I was read for the sequel. We both were.
I read a review of the movie that was complaining that the sequel was all the same stuff over again. Clearly, they missed the entire freaking point. Where the point of the first movie was to make fun of the fact that tv show movies are dumb and never work, the point of this movie was to make fun of the fact that sequels are dumb and never work. C’mon, chunks of the dialog were repeated verbatim from the original, and the one new phrase heard over and over would encoruage them to do things “”just the same as the last time””. And they still didn’t get that was the joke?
The same smart comedy was throughout the film, including one joke involving a tattoo that had me laughing thru the next day. Such a clever joke. The chemistry with the boys was as good as ever. Jonah Hill will still do anything for a laugh, a laugh he will often get. Channing Tatum has found his niche, bringing a sincerity to the comedy as well as a whole lotta heart. I could watch those boys FOREVER. I think this franchise should stand as is, unparalleled in its perfection, and then they can find new and exciting projects to work on. Oh also, during the credits scene you’ve been hearing about is as epic as the buzz. Even if the rest of the movie had been bad (which it wasn’t) that would have made it all worthwhile. I left there so incredibly happy
21 Jump Street – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/