FILM: 21 Jump Street (8/10)

First things first, this may be hard to believe but Channing Tatum is actually genuinely good in this film. He shows an adeptness for comedy that many would not expect. Perhaps his performance is in part due to his role, as the dumb jock of the pair, being naturally made for him. On the flip side, Jonah Hill plays the intelligent nerd of the pair, again a natural persona, and also delivers a strong script consistently packed with gags. Although the film treads the familiar path of 80's buddy movies with a plot reminiscent of Bad Boys, it does so with a strong sense of self-parody mixed in to the hilarious gross-out humour. At no point is this clearer than when the police chief revives the defunct undercover programme and comments that nobody has any original ideas anymore so all that is left to do is lazily repeat previous work, a fun poke at the films 80's TV series origin of the same name and similar plot. The films final third drags on slightly, with a few drawn out action sequences displacing the fun for marginally too long but all things considered 21 Jump Street is a good value laugh out loud comedy. In one line, Superbad meets Bad Boys.