Whatever happened to Richard Grieco, anyway? Who’s going to play the Holly Robinson character? The show couldn’t have ended that long ago, because I watched the damn thing during its original run and I’m only 22 years old! Right?
Thoughts like these likely went through the heads of anyone past a certain age when they heard that a big-screen adaptation of the iconic Fox series “21 Jump Street” was being produced, though in truth the resulting film falls far more in line with cinematic buddy action-comedies like “48 Hours” and “Bad Boys” than the more serious-minded, ensemble nature of the original show.
That sensibility is more than evident in the new “Superbad”-esque trailer (keep in mind that it’s “red-band”, i.e. NSFW), as it showcases the “Lethal Weapon”-meets-“Pineapple Express” vibe of the plot, which centers on two buffoonish bike cops (Channing Tatum and a slimmed-down Jonah Hill) who are transferred to the “21 Jump Street” division by virtue of their relatively youthful looks. There, they are tasked with posing as teenagers in order to infiltrate an undeground party-drug circuit at a nearby high school (note the plethora of jokes aimed at Tatum’s obvious age disparity with the rest of the students).
The film was written by Hill and Michael Bacall and also stars Ellie Kemper, Brie Larson, Ice Cube and Dave Franco (with Johnny Depp, who is not seen in the trailer, appearing in an as-yet-unspecified minor role). It was co-directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo that helmed the 2009 animated hit “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.
“21 Jump Street” hits theaters on March 16, 2012. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think!