21 Jump Street Review

Laugh all you want: life never stops being like high school. Never. is an action comedy that holds that truth to be self-evident. It stars Jonah Hill, 28, and Channing Tatum, 31, as cops who go undercover in high school to bust a drug ring and wind up futilely trying to correct everything they screwed up in their teens. "How old are you – 40?" asks a fellow student as Tatum (in a revelatory, bust-out comic performance) tries to squeeze into a dainty classroom seat.
Hey, wait. Wasn't there a Fox TV series with Johnny Depp that did the same shtick back in the 1980s? Yeah. But 21 Jump Street is no cheeseball reboot. Producer Hill, who came up with the story with screenwriter Michael Bacall (Project X), has too much affection for the TV series to reduce it to a spoof. A priceless cameo from Depp, in the role he created and about which my lips are sealed, confirms it. This bracing new take on 21 Jump Street has a playful spark all its own. It's a blast.21 Jump Street