21 Jump Street

Episode 88: 21 Jump Street (2012)

Theme: Good Movies Based on TV Shows
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz and Curtis go undercover to kick off Good Movies Based on TV Shows with 21 Jump Street — the adaptation that takes an ’80s cop drama, dumps it in a vat of Red Bull, and turns it into a filthy, frantic, surprisingly smart buddy comedy.

Join your two favorite definitely-not-Narcs as they dig into:

• Schmidt & Jenko, mismatched cops who somehow fail high school twice and still manage to bond over bike patrol, bad decisions, and chemically enhanced track meets.

• Modern High School, where the cool kids are eco-conscious, emotionally aware, and make Channing Tatum feel like a confused time traveler with a lifted Camaro.

• Eric & Molly, with Dave Franco as the morally conflicted drug dealer who hates SUVs, and Brie Larson as the aggressively-18 love interest the studio’s lawyers absolutely signed off on.

• Mr. Walters, Rob Riggle’s unhinged PE teacher turned accidental drug kingpin, whose life choices culminate in one of the most hilariously traumatic groin injuries in cinema.

• Cameos from Holly Robinson Peete, Dakota Johnson, Johnny Depp, and Peter DeLuise, proving that yes, this is technically still connected to the original TV show… right up until Lord & Miller literally gun that legacy down in a spray of squibs.

From the four-stage drug-trip sequence to Chris Parnell drama-teacher chaos to Ice Cube playing “angry police captain” so hard it loops back around to documentary, 21 Jump Street manages to roast teen culture, cop movies, and reboots all at once—and somehow sticks the landing.

Final Verdict:

Oz — 21 out of 21 Jump Streets
Curtis — 37 Jump Streets out of 21
Both — Not narcs. Definitely not narcs.

Next week: The guys swap high school hallways for elevated trains and bad winter coats with The Fugitive, where Harrison Ford insists he didn’t kill his wife and Tommy Lee Jones insists he does not care.