Print Email to Friend| From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 18, Dated 05 May 2012

CULTURE & SOCIETY   SPOILERS AHEAD

21 Chump Street

21 Jump Street DIRECTOR Phil Lord, Chris Miller STARRING Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube ALSO READ Sex, Lies and VDO Tape A Plague on All Your Houses Lazy Fiction

It starts as a bromance with Tatum and Hill playing two cops, who get transferred to the 21 Jump Street project of the police department. They go undercover at a school to crack a synthetic drug ring. Then on, it’s a teen comedy. Yes, Veronica Mars just jumped off a skyscraper.

By Mona J

Street Swag
• The movie shows the generation gap between the Eminem and Internet 1.0 generation and the Glee and Twitter generation rather well.
• Johnny Depp in a cameo talks about how teen idol Tom Hanson is actually a geek.
• The movie’s 21 Jump Street HQ is a Korean Church. The Korean Jesus is as genius as Kevin Smith’s Buddy Jesus!
• With the Donnie Brasco reference in place, this is a largely successful tribute-via-tropes magnet.

Street Drag
• Self-mocking revival of franchises is not funny anymore. They have a whole franchise for that!
• Jonah. How many times can one guy come of age?
• Channing. We could’ve been watching a John Cena movie.
• They missed the memo. All formulaic comedies shall henceforth have a brown character. • Hill, (Michael) Bacall, Lord and Miller — with such a powerhouse running the show, why weren’t we laughing our asses off?

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