The Cabin in the Woods: Bloody Laughs and Surprises

This weekend I finally got to watch The Cabin In The Woods, Joss Whedon's latest addition to his ever-expanding oeuvre of inventive storytelling. To be fair, he co-wrote this movie with director Drew Goddard (who wrote Cloverfield) and given the result, these two men need to team up more often.

When The Cabin in the Woods premiered at the SXSW Film Festival this year, Joss Whedon earnestly pleaded with reviewers to refrain from spoiling the movie. I'm sure plenty of people ignored him, but I shall abide by his wishes because it is incredibly important to go into this movie spoiler-free. All I can do is encourage you to watch this movie and let yourself puzzle through the story line and take bets on who is going to die first.

Part of the surprise of the movie is probably the casting, so don't go on imdb and look up the actors beforehand. I saw this movie with a fellow Whedon fan, which allowed for a great deal of merriment when we spotted actors who have been in some of his other projects. But even if you've never seen any of Whedon's previous work, you will still recognize other familiar faces from film and television.

Of course, the highlight of the movie is its plot. The opening scene is bewildering but then you move on to the  horror movie trope of a group of college kids going to a creepy cabin in the woods, as they are wont to do. What follows are a lot of laughs, a gradual understanding as to what exactly is taking place, and a liberal send-up of the horror genre with plenty of gore and death to satisfy your baser needs. It's hard to mock a genre and its tired stereotypes while still making a successful movie in that genre, but Goddard and Whedon have magnificently risen to the challenge. The joy of the movie really comes in speculating who is going to die, which horror tropes will be turned on their heads or straightforwardly followed, and ultimately, trying to figure out just what on earth is going on in this cabin.

That's all I can say, and that's all you should know before heading for the theatre. This is a movie that can appeal to fans of both horror and comedy, and I can guarantee you won't have any nightmares after watching it. What you will take away is a sense that horror has become a rather sadistic genre, and we need more movies like The Cabin In The Woods or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil to make it less gruesome and more entertaining. 

Why would anyone go into this cabin?

Girls: Who ARE These Women?

I was really looking forward to Girls, the HBO comedy written, directed, and starring Lena Dunham. I'm always keen on watching movies or TV shows where women have a big role to play instead of being relegated to the role of housekeeper or love interest. The way HBO promoted this series, it felt like the second coming of woman, heralding a new age in television. But so far, I am vastly ambivalent.

The show follows Hannah (Dunham) and her friends, a motley group of women struggling to make it in New York City. Hannah is a twenty-something who has been working at an unpaid internship since she graduated from college and is certain that she can become a writer who represents "a voice of a generation" if not necessarily the voice of her generation. She is therefore shocked in the first episode when her parents inform her over dinner that they are cutting her off and she will have to find a way to support herself. In this economy, I imagine this is a conversation that parents and children might be forced to have all over the country and the upcoming season will probably place a lot of focus on Hannah's quest for employment.

After the first episode I thought I was never going to watch it again. Hannah and her friends are yet another example of how NYC is supposedly a land where only white women roam, and it is tiring to watch a bunch of stereotypically Brooklyn-dwelling white girls discuss sex and relationships endlessly as though that is all that women talk about. In fact, for all its supposed progressiveness in having an all-female cast, the show habitually violates the Bechdel test, because the girls are very rarely having a conversation that does not involve their relationships with their inadequate boyfriends. And also, it just wasn't very funny.

Comedies are notorious for starting slow and then gaining traction. Which is the only reason I decided to watch the second episode of Girls. And this one gave me some hope, even though the conversations were still incredibly self-involved and relationship-centric. There were two scenes that were actually funny (again, comedy is vastly subjective, so you may not agree). One involved Hannah's first job interview, which is an utter failure because Hannah makes a thoroughly inappropriate joke that brings into question her ability to function in an office environment or really just talk to human beings. As a stand-alone scene, it's a great bit of cringe comedy, but in terms of this character, it's just one more reason to find her difficult to root for. Similarly, I find the three women who play her friends to be incredibly difficult to like, but I can only hope that future episodes will help flesh out their characters. For now, they all seem terribly self-involved, and it's hard to see how they could meet anyone's definition of being a friend.

The final line of Episode 2 is the sole reason I will be watching the third episode of Girls. Hannah is getting an STD test and when the gynecologist asks her, "Does this hurt?" Hannah responds, "Yes, but only in the way it's supposed to." That is the kind of humor I expect from a show called Girls. It is instantly relatable (for women anyway), is wryly funny, and finally made me feel a smidgen of fondness for Hannah. I'm not saying I now want all the comedy of Girls to be about pelvic exams, but it's at least a step in the right direction. Being a woman does not limit your topics of conversation and I need to see Hannah having intelligent discussions with her friends instead of appearing completely witless or incapable of talking about anything other than sex. I know it's HBO, but come on. I want to know about her job hunt and learn more about how her friends earn their livings instead of seeing who they sleep with every night.

As with all shows that debuted with the word "Girl" in the title this year, the focus seems to be on portraying "quirky" women, not women of substance. Quirks are well and good, but they also render completely one-dimensional characters. If the people at HBO want the audience to relate to Hannah and her friends, or at least be interested in seeing what they do next, it's time to move past the quirks and talk about the things that real women, not "girls," talk about.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Universal Laughs

I recently re-read my giant, all-5-books-in-one copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and kept bursting into laughter over Arthur Dent's various mishaps across multiple universes (yes, there's more than one). Even though these books are classified as science fiction and deal with the realm of aliens and spaceships, the author, Douglas Adams, was actually more concerned with writing humorous novels in the tradition of P.G. Wodehouse. It is merely incidental that the setting happens to not be Earth.

The "increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's trilogy" tells the story of Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered Englishman who is friends with a man with the odd name of Ford Prefect. Turns out, Ford is actually an alien from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse who has been sent to Earth as a field researcher for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a guidebook that helps you see the universe "on less than thirty Altairian dollars a day." Ford has been stuck on Earth for fifteen years, because there have been no passing spaceships that he could hitch a ride on to get out of this backwater locale. However, he gets his chance when a Vogon spaceship approaches Earth.

Unfortunately, the Vogons are a rather fierce alien race and their only reason for being in the vicinity is that they need to destroy Earth and make way for a new hyperspace bypass. Ford grabs a hold of Arthur and they manage to teleport onto the spaceship before the Earth is obliterated. Naturally, Arthur is rather bewildered by these proceedings. In a few minutes, he has discovered that his good friend is an alien, his home no longer exists, and he is on board a spaceship with some fairly unsympathetic Vogons who are ready to kill him and Ford. Things are not looking good.

The series proceeds with leaps and bounds as Arthur tries to find out if he can ever get the Earth back or at least find a different version of it in a parallel universe. Along the way he and Ford are picked up by Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the Galaxy who is incidentally Ford's semi-cousin and has stolen the Heart of Gold spaceship that zips through space and time thanks to its Infinite Improbability Drive. Zaphod is accompanied by Trillian, a woman that he picked up from Earth a few months ago, and Marvin the Paranoid Android, the most neurotic robot you will ever encounter in all of science fiction. Together, this motley crew hurtles through a blinding sequence of adventures and near-death experiences, with time to spare for a meal at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The series gets increasingly odd, and by the time I was on the fifth book, I'm not too certain I knew what was going on. But I still enjoyed every page, because after all, you can't expect the universe(s) to make much sense.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a sprawling ode to the imagination and each book in the series tackles increasingly difficult questions and dilemmas. For example, once Dent & Co. find the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, they discover that they now need to find out what the question is. It is that kind of absurdist humor that propels this series and makes it endlessly entertaining, charming, and profound. It is quite possible to learn some valuable life lessons as you read these books. But perhaps the most important one of all is the phrase that is prominently stamped on the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide in large friendly letters: Don't Panic.

The Avengers: Assemble The Sequels

It is fitting that the 100th post on this blog should be about The Avengers. Because I can think of no other movie that so heartily embraces pop culture on multiple levels. Almost every person on the planet will have some reason to enjoy this movie. To begin with, it's a big summer blockbuster. It has the requisite special effects (I saw it in 2D, but I'm certain the 3D version is well worth it) and gargantuan action sequences that are so captivating that you dare not even blink. Then add in the fact that it is a superhero movie. And not just one superhero, but a collection of Marvel icons who have all appeared in their own separate films but are now gathered together to avenge the entire human race. If you liked any of these heroes in their individual films, then you already have a vested interested in watching The Avengers to see how your hero of choice will fare among this motley crew of costumed crusaders. If you are a huge comic nerd, you are even more invested in this movie because it lets you see these heroes working with and against each other in every imaginable combination. And finally, we get to the most specialized level of pop culture pedigree that this movie possesses - Joss Whedon.

Yes, the ever-dependable Joss Whedon is the director of this colossal movie, but more importantly, he is also its writer. And that is evident in every scene of the film, where pop culture references and jokes are thrown around at dizzying speeds designed to give you whiplash as you try to keep up. Especially pay attention whenever Robert Downey Jr. (i.e. Iron Man) opens his mouth - his references span decades worth of pop culture and I caught maybe 50% of them. One example: when he makes a snide remark about "flying monkeys," Thor doesn't understand the Wizard of Oz reference, what with his being a demigod from Asgard who doesn't have much time for the movies. But Captain America, who has been encased in ice from World War II until the 21st century and therefore can't understand most of what Iron Man says, is utterly delighted by this reference to something from 1939. It's silly, goofy, and the absolute perfect tone for a superhero movie. The whole idea of men and women in costumes running around to save the world is inherently bizarre, but Joss Whedon knows exactly how to strike the balance between action and comedy. He is the master of finding the jokes in any genre (see: Cabin in the Woods) and this movie will have you laughing just as much as any other comedy coming out this year.

The Avengers is not some dumbed-down blockbuster for the masses but a ridiculously smart and entertaining piece of work that works on several levels. The actors do a superb job and are bringing more to their characters than they did in their individual movies. This is due in large part to the script and the bewildering way in which Whedon has managed to flesh out each hero even though the large cast means that they get a very limited amount of screen time. During the epic battle sequence that finishes up the film, we get to see all of these characters interact with each other and witness the metamorphosis of these people from individual superheroes to one impeccable team of Avengers. Tom Hiddleston is a fantastic villain as Loki, Thor's half-brother who is intent on ruling the human race. He delivers many grandiose speeches but these are almost always interrupted by some new developments that allow for a slew of hilarious reaction shots. No one is allowed to take themselves too seriously, and the film is a great exercise in elevating a genre whilst simultaneously mocking it. (Again, see: Cabin in the Woods.)

There is not a single dull moment in this movie and it should be declared essential viewing for anyone who wants to make a superhero movie ever again. The Avengers is so good that you immediately want to re-watch it but also demand to know when there will be a sequel. And that is my main problem with the movie. I cannot even contemplate watching the sequel unless it is written by Joss Whedon. He has set the bar so incredibly high that he is the only one who could top himself. But those are concerns for a later date. For now, just watch The Avengers. Judging by the box office numbers, everyone else has already seen this movie, so you might as well be in the loop. And then we can decide whether anyone needs to make a superhero movie ever again.

Breaking Dawn Part 1: Living Up to Expectations

In search of thoroughly mindless entertainment last week, I watched Breaking Dawn Part 1, the penultimate addition to the Twilight film saga that will mercifully end this year. It was certainly mindless, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was entertainment. Actually, scratch that. I have always found the Twilight franchise to be endlessly entertaining - not because it's any good, but because it's one of those things that fascinate you by being so horrible.

Sadly, I have read all the books and have watched all the movies. I am not remotely a fan, but like I always tell people, this series is like a drug addiction. You know that it's bad for you, but you just can't stop doing it. I initially started reading Twilight because of the hype. Everyone was talking about it, people were crazy for it, and since my beloved Harry Potter was over, I figured I could use a new fantasy series to fill the void. Boy was I mistaken. From the very first chapter I found myself wondering if I was reading an actual published work instead of some mediocre musings penned by an insecure schoolgirl. And yet I couldn't stop reading because I was desperate to see if the series somehow improved by the time it got to the fourth book. Spoiler alert: it did not. I won't rehash everything that is wrong with Twilight since others have done so before me and the author herself owns up to the fact that she isn't a good writer, but I do suggest you watch Alex Reads Twilight on YouTube. It is marvelous to watch Alex Day try to get through the first Twilight novel and giggle at his mounting horror as he encounters the poor writing and insane plots.

Back to the movie - it's everything you would expect from a movie based on a terrible book. Kristen Stewart is (as usual) doing her best to make Bella Swan a worthy protagonist, but when you are dealing with a series in which the heroine is the most weak-willed, co-dependent, one-dimensional character in all of existence, it's really hard to get the audience to root for you (unless you're a Twihard tween who has self-esteem issues and thinks that Twilight represents the pinnacle of literary achievement). I cannot wait for these movies to end because I genuinely believe Kristen Stewart is a good actress, but she has become so associated with this awful character that she will have to take on some very challenging roles to show people that she can actually act. I am less enthused about the leading men in these movies. Robert Pattinson does his usual shtick of being a lovesick vampire, and Taylor Lautner is the ever-obliging werewolf who will take his shirt off simply to please the tweens in the audience. The supporting cast get to recite about two sentences of dialogue each and the rest of the film just involves a lot of angst and romance.

The two "anticipated" scenes in this movie were Edward and Bella's honeymoon, and then the birth of the human-vampire baby that is the result of that honeymoon. I was curious to see how the filmmakers would pull off these scenes, keeping in mind their ridiculously young audience, but both scenes stuck to the PG-13 guidebook. The birth was not remotely as gory as described in the books and aside from a few artfully placed bloodstains, the whole affair was far less fraught than I had anticipated. Still awful, but definitely not as graphic as the books. I don't know how any of the actors got through that scene without bursting into hysterical laughter, but I suppose after going through the motions on three movies already, they're used to pretending that this material is not ridiculous. No one associated with these films appears to think they're making a masterpiece. The movies have gotten insanely self-referential and satirical - whether it's Taylor Lautner getting shirtless within the first two seconds, or the boys laughing over the indubitably heinous name of Renesmee for Bella's baby, it's like the filmmakers acknowledge that there are people like me who are watching just for laughs. So they're having fun riding this franchise all the way to the bank and if the tweens are willing to bankrupt themselves over collecting Team Edward and Team Jacob memorabilia, who am I to stop them?

Will I be watching Breaking Dawn Part 2? You bet. Why? Because Twilight is like a trainwreck, you just can't avert your gaze from the unfolding horror. I know that the tweens of this world do not share my opinions and will hate me for them, but please boys and girls. Do not grow up thinking that the characters of Twilight should be your role models. When you're adults, you need to look back on this franchise, ruefully laugh, and chalk it up to the follies of youth.

Spoiler alert: this is the final shot of the movie. Maybe Kristen Stewart can redeem herself somewhat in Part 2 as a bloodthirsty vampire instead of an annoying human.

Twenty Twelve: Olympian Chaos

The time has come to discuss my newest Britcom obsession: Twenty Twelve. Brought to you by the BBC, the show premiered last year for a six-episode run, won Best Sitcom at the British Comedy Awards, and is currently back for four more episodes. There is a time constraint on the show, evidenced by its very title, because it is concerned with the Olympic Deliverance Commission (ODC), the group that has to organize the 2012 London Summer Olympics. So far, there are plans to make a third series that will air right before the Games in July, but after that, Twenty Twelve will be no more.

The show is shot in the ever-popular mockumentary style, which allows for great insight into the characters and their increasingly bizarre antics. The Head of Deliverance is Ian Fletcher (played by Hugh Bonneville, who you may know as the Earl of Grantham from Downton Abbey), a man who is adept at saying a lot of things that mean absolutely nothing. It is his task to wrangle a group of highly incompetent people and organize the Summer Olympics, arguably one of the most complicated events that human beings have ever devised. Over the course of six episodes, we watch in fascination as they deal with a variety of problems. There's an artist who has made an impossibly complicated countdown clock, a Brazilian delegation that needs to visit the Olympic stadium, the search to appoint a Curator for the Cultural Olympiad (an event that no one actually knows how to explain), and how to prevent the endangered stag beetles in Greenwich Park. Each problem escalates into a hilarious farce that threatens to derail the entire Olympic games, and Ian and his colleagues are the last people you would ever want to organize any event, let alone one of this magnitude.

The cast of this show keep it firing on all four cylinders and they have a firm grasp of just how dysfunctional these characters are. Hugh Bonneville is splendid as the man who's in charge but can't really get anything done (he can't even get his ID card to let him into the building) without the help of his extremely efficient but subdued and besotted PA, Sally (the incredible Olivia Colman). Jessica Hynes is utterly mesmerizing as Siobhan Sharpe, the Head of Brand who has absolutely no worthwhile ideas and just nods her head rapidly while saying, "Uh huh? Yeah? OK," on a loop until the person she's talking with gives up. Amelia Bullmore plays Kay Hope, the Head of Sustainability who is infuriated every time she is confused for the Head of Legacy (even she can't properly explain what the difference is), while Karl Theobald plays Graham Hitchens, the Head of Infrastructure who truly knows nothing about his job and keeps making London grind to a halt when he tries to implement a new traffic management system.  And I would be remiss if I didn't mention David Tennant, who supplies the wonderful voiceover that calmly sets up the inanity of what you are about to watch.

I lost track of the number of times I burst out laughing while watching Twenty Twelve. It is utterly absurd, witty, and spectacular, an instant Britcom classic. The show serves as a worthy outlet for the collective British sense of doom and apprehension about the upcoming Olympics. I'm sure the members of the actual ODC are far more competent than their television counterparts, but Twenty Twelve does manage to get uncomfortably close to the truth on some topics. You can't help imagining that some of the conversations about traffic management and sustainability are similar to discussions that plague the ODC on a daily basis, the only difference being that the people of Twenty Twelve know how to mine these problems for all the laughs they can get.

Exit Through the Gift Shop: Street Art Goes Mainstream

Exit Through the Gift Shop premiered at Sundance in 2010 and after widespread acclaim received a nomination for Best Documentary at the 2011 Oscars. As usual, I was too caught up with watching the Best Picture nominees to seek out the nominated documentaries, which is why it has taken me more than a year to watch this movie. But better late than never.

The director behind this documentary is Banksy, a well-known English graffiti artist. He appears in the movie at times, but his face is kept hidden and his voice is distorted in order to preserve his anonymity. The documentary tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a Frenchman with a vintage clothing shop in LA who discovers that his cousin is Invader, a well-known street artist. This discovery intrigues Guetta, who decides that he wants to follow Invader around with a video camera and document his artwork. In this way, Guetta enters into the world of street art and he becomes obsessed and inspired by the artists and their creations. He goes on various expeditions with artists, helping them find supplies and the perfect walls to serve as canvases for their work and frantically documents their every move so that their art will survive on film even if it is later removed by the authorities. He claims he is collecting this footage to make a documentary about street art, but in actual fact, he is just amassing tons of footage without any attempt to put it together in one coherent narrative.

As he gets to know more street artists, one name keeps cropping up: Banksy. Finally, Guetta gets his chance to meet Banksy himself when he comes to LA to create an exhibition of his work. Through a series of events, Banksy becomes very impressed with Guetta's enthusiasm and loyalty and asks to see his documentary. Guetta frantically puts together a rambly, painful 90-minute film that contains flashes of all of the artwork he has documented over the years but lacks any structure whatsoever. Shocked, Banksy decides to take over Guetta's footage and put together a documentary himself. In the meantime, he suggests that Guetta should try his hand at creating art of his own. Which leads to the creation of Mr. Brainwash, Guetta's street artist persona. Relying on everything he has learned about street art through filming others, Guetta decides to take an empty TV studio in LA and create a massive exhibition of street art. He recruits a team of artists and bombards them with ideas for the artwork he wants to make. The whole enterprise is disorganized, chaotic, and insane, yet somehow (and despite an accident that leaves him with a broken leg), Guetta manages to pull together an art show that is hyped up to epic proportions and even graces the cover of LA Weekly. Mr. Brainwash is a huge success and thus, a new street artist is born, much to the bewilderment of Banksy, who never dreamed this odd Frenchman would become an overnight sensation capable of selling a million dollars of artwork in the course of one week.

The story of Mr. Brainwash's ascendancy is absurd and extravagant, which explains why people are still confused as to whether Exit Through the Gift Shop is in fact an elaborate hoax. I myself was perplexed on this point, because it felt like such a mockumentary about the commercialization of street art, and how a creative art form that was meant to be anti-establishment and anti-capitalism suddenly became an extremely lucrative and mainstream career move. However, Banksy and the producers of this film insist that everything depicted in the documentary is true. Frankly, the story is just too insane to be made up, and the people who have investigated Guetta's backstory say that the film's portrayal is accurate. More importantly, Mr. Brainwash has continued to conduct exhibitions of his work, so there are certainly people buying his artwork who regard him as a legitimate artist.

As you can see from this post, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a complex and puzzling documentary that is rather hard to explain. It is extremely well-done and offers a glimpse into a shadowy world of art that is created by immensely talented and passionate people. But as the movie progresses, it becomes clear that this art form is migrating from the fringes of society to the commercial mainstream. The work we see throughout the movie ranges from truly creative to someone just spray painting slogans on a wall. Where do we draw the line between something that is vandalism and something that is art? Who is to say that a concrete wall can't be a canvas for an inspiring piece of artwork? And how do you put a price tag on this work when it was initially done just to make a statement and not for profit? Everyone has a different answer to these questions (or if you're like me, you have no answers at all). But regardless of what your opinions on street art might be, everyone can agree that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a brilliant piece of film-making, a work of art unto itself.

The Sunday Philosophy Club: Soothing Scottish Mystery Solving

After making my way through Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, I decided to branch out from solving mysteries in Botswana to solving mysteries in Edinburgh. So I picked up a copy of The Sunday Philosophy Club, another series by McCall Smith featuring a marvelous protagonist named Isabel Dalhousie.

Much like the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, this book isn't really a mystery novel. It isn't gritty and nail-bitingly suspenseful. Instead, it concerns itself more with its characters and their lives in Edinburgh with a murder mystery casually thrown in for good measure. It's well-plotted and wonderful to read, but solving the mystery of an apparent suicide/accidental death of a young man who falls from the balcony at the theater almost becomes an afterthought as you find yourself far more invested in learning about Isabel's niece's tangled love-life, or what Isabel thinks about the various people she meets while she tentatively investigates.

Isabel Dalhousie, like her Botswanian counterpart Precious Ramotswe, is a sensible and remarkable woman. She is a philosopher who edits the Review of Applied Ethics and is fairly well-off owing to a family inheritance. Her philosophy background means that she spends a great deal of time debating whether she has a moral duty to pursue this investigation, whether it is right for her to meddle in her niece's romantic life, and so on. There is a lot of discussion about the papers she has to edit and it is astonishing how much you could learn about applied ethics and the mindset of a philosopher just by reading this book. What saves Isabel from becoming a pretentious or tedious character is that all of these debates about morality are in her head. She doesn't go around Edinburgh attempting to subject everyone she meets to some meandering philosophical discussion. Instead, her musings on morality are gentle and humorous, the kind of internal debates that people have with themselves everyday, except phrased much more articulately and intelligently.

I have already picked up the next book in this series and fully intend to enjoy it as much as the other McCall Smith books I have read in the past. His talent lies in making the ordinary business of day-to-day life seem rich and vibrant. Of course, the addition of a mystery does raise the stakes a bit, but frankly, I could read an entire novel about Isabel Dalhousie if all she did was chat with her housekeeper and analyze the murky moral waters of whether or not she can tell her niece who to date. The Sunday Philosophy Club is a perfect book to read on a weekend - just curl up with a blanket and a pot of tea and let yourself indulge.

21 Jump Street: A Remake Done Right

I have never seen the original 21 Jump Street, the 80s TV series about youthful-appearing cops who investigate crimes by going undercover among the teens in high schools and colleges. The series is perhaps most famous for launching Johnny Depp's career and garnering him teen idol status, but it is now 2012, which means it is well due for a Hollywood remake. And what a remake it is.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum team up in this version as two guys who went to high school together and later cross paths in the police academy. Hill plays Morton Schmidt, the nerdy fat kid who never got a date and miserably made his way through high school, while Tatum plays stereotypical dumb jock Greg Jenko who got all the girls and the glory. Now in the academy, the two form an unlikely friendship, where Schmidt helps Jenko pass the written tests, while Jenko puts Schmidt through some rigorous physical training so that he can get through the obstacle courses and other athletic tests without passing out. Once they graduate from the academy, they find themselves incapable of arresting any criminals as they bike around town and quickly develop a reputation as a goofy and incompetent duo. After they make an arrest, only to have it go horribly wrong, their captain (the always fantastic Nick Offerman, in a much too brief cameo) assigns them to the 21 Jump Street division, for no other reason than that they look young enough to pass for high schoolers.

The duo are asked to go undercover at their old high school to find out who is responsible for supplying a new synthetic drug that seems poised to spread to other high schools in the area. They move in with Schmidt's parents and pretend to be brothers. But once they return to high school, they discover that the place they left 10 years ago has become very different. Jenko is befuddled to find that the cool kids now advocate for tolerance and environmental protection, a shift in attitudes that he blames on Glee. In this setting, Schmidt gradually becomes the popular kid, thereby letting him live out the fantasy of the high school life he wished he had, while Jenko is increasingly frustrated and relegated to the sidelines.

The movie proceeds with plenty of jokes, pop culture references, R-rated wackiness, and self-referential mockery, which is really what saves it from becoming just another remake. This is not a serious homage to the original 21 Jump Street. Instead, it is a clever send-up of the show's premise that goes out of its way to not take itself seriously. There are some great comic performances from people like Rob Riggle, Jake Johnson, and Ellie Kemper to liven up the proceedings, but the central relationship between Schmidt and Jenko is really at the heart of the movie and keeps it warm and sweet despite the ridiculous events that transpire. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are two actors who are impossible to hate, no matter what you think of their actual acting ability, and their good humor and willingness to just go for it are what keeps this movie so entertaining.

When I started watching the movie, I was expecting a particular cameo performance. However, I soon forgot about it, which then led to my being extremely surprised and delighted when the cameo did take place towards the end. No spoilers, but it's another thing that lends a sense of fun to the whole enterprise. In my opinion, Hollywood should take note of 21 Jump Street. If studios are going to continue to churn out remakes, this is the perfect way to go about it. Have fun with the source material and make it gloriously uninhibited and silly. That's the only way to get something that feels fresh and funny out of something that was doomed to become a musty relic of the 80s.