21 Jump Street is a 2012 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in their live-action directorial debuts and written by Michael Bacall, based on a story by Bacall and Jonah Hill. It is the first film in the Jump Street franchise and stars Hill and Channing Tatum in the lead roles, alongside Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, and Ice Cube. It is an adaptation of the 1987–1991 television series of the same name by Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh. In the film, police officers Schmidt and Jenko are forced to relive high school when they are assigned to prevent the outbreak of a new synthetic drug and arrest the supplier.
21 Jump Street was produced by Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Relativity Media, Original Film, and SJC Studios. It premiered in SXSW festival on March 12, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States four days later on March 16 by Sony Pictures Releasing where the film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its humor and the chemistry between Hill and Tatum, and then grossing $201 million worldwide. A sequel, 22 Jump Street, was released on June 13, 2014.
Plot
In 2005, unpopular-yet-scholarly student Morton Schmidt and popular-yet-underachieving athlete Greg Jenko miss their school prom, Schmidt being rejected by the girl he was trying to ask to be his date and Jenko being barred from attending due to failing grades. Seven years later, the duo meet again at the police academy and become friends. After graduating, the two become partners assigned to bicycle patrol at the local park. They catch a break when they arrest Domingo, the leader of a one-percenter motorcycle gang for drug possession, but are forced to release him after they fail to read him his Miranda rights.
The duo is reassigned to 21 Jump Street, a revived undercover program from the 1980s, which specializes in infiltrating high schools. Captain Dickson assigns them to contain the spread of a newly-made synthetic drug called HFS ("Holy Fucking Shit") at Sagan High School. He gives them new identities and enrolls them as students, giving them class schedules fitting their previous academic performances; Jenko taking mostly arts and humanities, and Schmidt taking mostly science classes, but the duo mix up their identities. Schmidt gets a lead on HFS from classmate Molly, and he and Jenko meet the school's main dealer, popular student Eric. The two take HFS in front of him to maintain their cover, and then rush to the bathroom and attempt to vomit the HFS out of their systems, but are unsuccessful.
Eric takes a liking to Schmidt, who develops a romantic interest in Molly. Jenko becomes friends with the students in his AP Chemistry class and finds himself becoming more interested in geeky hobbies and academic pursuits. Schmidt and Jenko throw a party at Schmidt's parents' house, where they are living during the course of their assignment, and invite Eric. During the party, a fight breaks out between Schmidt, Jenko, and some party crashers from another high school. Schmidt wins the fight, impressing Eric and gaining his trust. Jenko's friends hack Eric's phone to enable them to listen in on his conversations.
The phone hack reveals information about an upcoming meeting between Eric and his supplier. Jenko happens to overhear conversations between Schmidt and Eric, where he catches Schmidt making disparaging comments about him. A rift between the duo grows and their official police work suffers. Schmidt and Jenko later track Eric to a cash transaction with the distributors of HFS—the motorcycle gang from the park—and a chase ensues on the freeway. They return to school, argue, and eventually begin fighting, which disrupts the school play. They are expelled from school and fired from the Jump Street program.
Eric, stressed and terrified, recruits Schmidt and Jenko as security for a deal taking place at the school prom. While dressing for the prom, Schmidt and Jenko rekindle their friendship. At the prom, Schmidt is forced to reveal his identity as a cop, upsetting Molly. When they go to the penthouse, they discover that the supplier is the physical education teacher, Mr. Walters, who created the drug accidentally and started selling it to the students to supplement his teacher's salary and pay alimony to his ex-wife. Having caught Eric smoking marijuana, he was able to persuade him to be his dealer.
The motorcycle gang arrives for the deal, but Molly, high on HFS, interrupts them and starts arguing with Schmidt, outing him as a police officer. As a result, gang leader Domingo recognizes Schmidt and Jenko and orders his men to kill them. Two of the gang members then reveal themselves to be undercover DEA agents Tom Hanson and Doug Penhall, former members of the Jump Street program. In an ensuing exchange of gunfire, Hanson and Penhall are both mortally wounded. Mr. Walters and Eric escape with the money and Molly as a hostage; the gang, Schmidt, and Jenko follow close behind. Jenko creates a homemade bomb and uses it to kill the gang. Mr. Walters shoots at Schmidt but Jenko takes the bullet to his arm, sparing Schmidt's life. In response, Schmidt shoots Mr. Walters, unintentionally severing his penis. They arrest Mr. Walters and Eric, successfully reading the former his Miranda rights. Schmidt and Molly share a kiss while Eric and Mr. Walters get arrested.
Both officers are congratulated and reinstated in the Jump Street program as Dickson gives them a new assignment: infiltrating a college.
Cast
Production In May 2008, Sony Pictures confirmed that a film adaptation of the series was under development. Jonah Hill rewrote an existing script by screenwriter Joe Gazzam and executive produced the film, as well as starred in the film. Hill has said he wanted horror director Rob Zombie to direct the picture. In May 2009, Hill described the film adaptation as being an "R-rated, insane, Bad Boys-meets-John Hughes-type movie". On December 21, 2009, it was announced that Sony was in talks with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs directing duo, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, to direct the film. The film follows the same continuity as the television series; Lord said, "So, all of those events of the original happened. And now here we are 20 years later, and we're watching it happen to different people." However, the film features a highly comedic tone, departing radically from the more dramatic and earnest tone of the series.
Filming The film was shot in and around New Orleans from April to June 2011, although the filmmakers took elaborate steps to disguise the location as a generic city named "Metropolitan City". They replaced distinctive street signs with signs using a Helvetica typeface, digitally removed billboards from local businesses (except the recognizable local RTA signs toward the end of the film as well as a Zatarain's billboard ad), and avoided filming locations with iconic New Orleans imagery. Despite this, signature landmarks such as the Crescent City Connection and distinctive French Quarter–area street are still partially visible. The main school used as the stand-in for the fictional Sagan High School was Riverdale High School, located in Jefferson, Louisiana. The naked baby pictures of Hill's character used in the film were actual pictures of Hill as a child. The band scene was filmed at Belle Chasse High School in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Filming was completed as of July 2011.
Music
The score for the film was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. In September 2014, it was released by La-La Land Records on a double disc album, limited to 2,000 copies. The second disc of the album also contains the score from the film's sequel, 22 Jump Street, composed by Mothersbaugh as well. A modernized cover of the original television's theme song by Rye Rye (who had a small part in the film) and Esthero was released as a single in the iTunes Store.
In addition, a total of 21 songs were licensed for use in the film. The songs featured in the film include:
"The Real Slim Shady" – Eminem "Police and Thieves" – The Clash "You Can't Lose" – The Knux "Boombox" – Dirt Nasty "Caesar" – Ty Segall "Helena Beat" – Foster the People "So Into You" – Atlanta Rhythm Section "Party Rock Anthem" (feat. Lauren Bennett and GoonRock) - LMFAO "Straight Outta Compton" – N.W.A "Get Me Golden" – Terraplane Sun "Swell Window" – Zee Avi "Lookin' Fly" (feat. will.i.am) – Murs "Rescue Song" – Mr. Little Jeans "Graduation (Friends Forever)" – Vitamin C "Call the Police" – Ini Kamoze "21 Jump Street – Main Theme (From the Motion Picture "21 Jump Street")" – Rye Rye & Esthero "21 Jump Street (Main Theme)" – Wallpaper. "You Are the Best" – Tim Myers "Every Time I See Your Face" – Elon
Release
The premiere of 21 Jump Street took place on March 12, 2012, at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, during SXSW. The film opened in a wide release in theaters on March 16, 2012. 21 Jump Street grossed $138.4 million in the United States and Canada and $63.1 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $201.6 million; it is also the top-grossing high school comedy film of all time. The film grossed $13.2 million on its opening day. During the weekend, the film grossed $35 million, taking The Lorax out of the #1 spot that it held for its first two weeks.
21 Jump Street was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Canada and the United States on June 26, 2012 and was released in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2012, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Some of the Blu-ray bonus features include 20 deleted scenes and "Johnny Depp on Set" explaining how they brought Johnny Depp to reprise his role as Tom Hanson. It was revealed that Depp wanted his character to die, but for unknown reasons. In one of the deleted scenes, Tom and his partner, Doug Penhall, were shown to have survived the shootout.
Reception On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, 21 Jump Street has an approval rating of 85% based on 227 reviews and an average rating of 7.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A smart, affectionate satire of '80s nostalgia and teen movie tropes, 21 Jump Street offers rowdy mainstream comedy with a surprisingly satisfying bite." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Richard Roeper of The Chicago-Sun Times gave the film a grade of a B+ saying, "I didn't think we needed a 21 Jump Street, but it's actually kind of funny." David Hynes of WhatCulture ranked the script third in a list of the "10 Best Movie Screenplays Since 2010", writing, "A key aspect to the script's success is how it sets up its story with such economy of means. We begin in medias res, and within ten pages establish (in a single shot) [...] all the conflict, interpersonal and personal [...] I groaned when I heard Tatum and Hill had been cast as the lead, but they proved to be a great double-act who did justice to the script's nutty humour."
Accolades
The film was listed as the number 6 most illegally downloaded film of 2012 using the BitTorrent protocol with approximately 7.6 million downloads.