Back in high school as an undercover cop, Jonah Hill may be headed to prom with Brie Larson.
Assigning two young cops to go undercover at a high school, their boss tells them, “The guys in charge of this stuff lack creativity and are completely out of ideas.” Then he tells them to report to “37 Jump Street. No, that doesn’t sound right . . .”
So “21 Jump Street,” an adaptation of Johnny Depp’s career-launching ’80s TV show, is a meta-comedy — plus it’s a buddy comedy, a physical comedy, an action comedy and a nonstop raunchy verbal riff like “Superbad.” That ought to be enough comedy for anyone, and this is the funniest movie I’ve seen in more than a year.
Jonah Hill, as nerdy rookie cop Schmidt, and Channing Tatum, as Jenko, a dumb fellow patrolman who used to torment him in high school, make a sensational comic pair: meatball meets beefcake. They slip back to high school to pose as brothers and try to break up a drug ring led by an eco-sensitive yearbook editor (James Franco’s little brother Dave, who shows a lot of potential). Psychedelic drugs have killed a kid at the school, and as the undercover officers’ new boss (Ice Cube, who has never been funnier) tells them, “This kid was white. That means people actually give a s - - t.”
Though they’ve been warned not to get themselves expelled, Schmidt and Jenko find that high school popularity is easy when your fake ID is real, your parents (both men move in with Schmidt’s folks, who keep naked-baby pictures of him on the wall) can be made to go away for the weekend and you can also help yourself to whatever weed is in the police evidence room.
Each cop gets the other’s class schedule, so pretty-boy Jenko is stuck trying to fake his way through advanced chemistry while the brainy but awkward Schmidt gets stuck in drama club, playing Peter Pan alongside his new crush, Molly (an adorable Brie Larson).
Things have changed in the seven years since these guys were in school; it’s not OK, they discover, to punch somebody in the parking lot, especially a short, gay, black student. Hot rods now run on biofuels. “Crunchy granola kids are now cool,” says Jenko.“It’s backwards and unnatural . . . I know the cause: ‘Glee’! F – – k you, ‘Glee’!”
While Schmidt is getting to know Molly (while talking to her on the phone, his new fake brother commits perversion upon him with a stuffed giraffe), he is still traumatized by his senior-year shame of being turned down for a prom date. So when she tries to kiss him, he goes for the handshake instead. That’s a “Superbad”-caliber moment, painfully awkward and true.
But if you like car chases, shootings and explosions, there are plenty of those, all brilliantly thrown into a chaotic “Lethal Weapon” spoof by directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who did the kid movie “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”).
A terrifically smart and fresh script by Michael Bacall keeps balancing absurdity against believable human moments, notably when the boys rush to grab a driver’s ed car for a high-speed chase and the driving teacher, after a brief protest, says “Eh, who cares?” That line nails high school more than anything in “The Breakfast Club.”
Hill, who shares a story credit with Bacall and contributed, I assume, a lot of ideas, exudes the kind of quick-thinking savvy you can’t fake, as well as the bug-eyed terror of classic schlemazels from Lou Costello to early Woody Allen. He’s equally funny when praying to a Korean-looking statue of Jesus or running down the street while texting.
Tatum, who after showing major charisma in “Step Up” was oozing steadily toward oblivion thanks to movies like “The Eagle,” “G.I. Joe” and “Stop-Loss,” got himself back on track with “The Dilemma” and “The Vow.” He now looks ready to rule the multiplex, as long as he doesn’t try to get serious again. He’s the king of all likable doofuses when, after a climax that manages to work in a hilarious twist, he tells his new best bud, “I woulda tooken a bullet for you.”