Movie Review: '21 Jump Street' more basic teen fare but enough laughs to be a winner for all

The action-comedy film "21 Jump Street," currently playing at the Horizon Stadium at Stateline, Lake Tahoe, may seem a little familiar to those who saw the teen comedy "Project X" recently. And for good reason, the writer for both films was Michael Bacall. There's much of the same in both films, high school affairs drugs and teen mammoth parties.
But don't let that spook you, as bad as "Project X" was, "21 Jump Street" is loud and funny and has two fine leads, Jonah Hill as Schmidt and Channing Tatum as Jenko. In high school Schmidt was the goofball and Jenko the football star.
They meet while at the police academy and because of their youthful looks are assigned to the park patrol. There they capture some dope dealers but fail to ready them their Miranda rights and botch the case.

They are reassigned to 21 Jump Street, a Korean church that is the headquarters for police investigation of school drug use. A new drug is making the rounds and Schmidt and Jenko are assigned to go back to school to find out where the drug is coming from.
Assignments at school are botched and Jenko is put with the brainy ones, Schmidt with the theater crowd. Naturally, neither fits in but Schmidt gets the lead in a production of Peter Pan while Jenko learns bomb making.
Any more of the plot could spoil the movie for viewers, so suffice it to say that all involved get their just deserts.
Yes, there's a car chase involved in which Schmidt and Jenko pursue bad guys who have kidnapped Schmidt's new squeeze, Brie Larson (who has little to do but sparkles when she's given a chance). They are also pursued by members of a motorcycle gang involved in the new drug sales. But this is a car chase of a different dimension, chiefly in that it involves three stretch limos, not your ordinary chase car. All involved use the roof windows to shoot machine guns and toss bombs (Jenko using his bomb making knowledge).
Most of this film is pretty funny and the two stars work well together, with Tatum showing a flair for comedy to match Hill. They have a comedy future ahead of them.
There are minor annoyances, such as how do they do plainclothes cops at their old high school with no one recognizing them. But don't bother about it, the movie has enough laughs to make up for such missteps. Jonny Depp makes a cameo appearance and Ice Cube is a mean cop captan and gets to use most of the four-letter type words.
Incidentally, I note that the far reaches of the movie halls make fine places for date snuggling. Nice to see that movies haven't changed that much.
See and enjoy.

— Sam Bauman
Cast
— Jonah Hill as Morton Schmidt
— Channing Tatum as Greg Jenko
— Brie Larson as Molly
— Ice Cube as Capt. Dickson
— Ellie Kemper as Ms. Griggs
— Dave Franco as Eric
— Rob Riggle as Mr. Walters
— Johnny Depp as DEA agent (cameo)
— Peter DeLuise as DEA agent (cameo)
— Holly Robinson Peete as Judy Hoffs (cameo)
— Nick Offerman as a police officer
— Dakota Johnson as Fugazy
— Johnny Simmons as Billiam Willingham
— Dax Flame as Zack
— DeRay Davis as Domingo

Directed by: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Produced by: Stephen J. Cannell, Neal H. Moritz
Screenplay by: Michael Bacall
Story by: Jonah Hill, Michael Bacall
Based on: 21 Jump Street created by Patrick Hasburgh, Stephen J. Cannell
Music by: Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography: Barry Peterson
Editing by: Joel Negrone
Running time: 109 minutes