Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

I know, I know...we're completely behind the times.  So what else is new?

A couple of weeks ago, J and I managed to stay up late enough to watch a movie.  A true rarity these days.  We had heard from a couple of people (one of whom was my college-aged brother) that 21 Jump Street was actually pretty funny.

Now, were we really going to take the word of a 19-year-old boy that the humor in this movie was worth our precious movie time?

OF COURSE we were.  Let's be real here, people.  That's totally right up our alleys.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it looked nothing short of ridiculous.  In the stupid way, not the funny way.  I had no desire to see it.  But it turns out, I'm pretty glad I watched!  It was laugh out loud funny.

Jonah Hill is a funny guy.  For reals.  Have you ever seen him not be funny?  (In a comedy, at least?  I realize that he has dropped the weight and is trying to become a more serious actor, but come on...he'll always be the chubby kid with the jew fro from SuperBad.)

Channing Tatum plays a pretty, stupid boy pretty well.  In my mind, this is not terribly far from reality.

What I loved the most about this movie is it made fun of itself.  It realized that it had stemmed from a tired 1980's television series, and in order to make the film plausible in the least, it had to acknowledge the ridiculousness of this fact.  Well done.  I especially love the angry black police captain, played by Ice Cube.  (Or is it Ice-T?  I always get them confused.)

This one is worth watching.  If I managed to stay up past 10:00, and didn't regret that use of my awake time?  That must be the mark of a solid movie.