Although this looked, by all indications, to be just another empty cash-in on a familiar franchise from thirty years ago, in reality it's a completely self-aware semi-satire that's funnier than it has any right to be. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum take their roles about as seriously as the film does itself (read: not at all) but still manage to develop a weird sort of chemistry as a helplessly stupid, modernized odd couple. It's to be expected that they'll stumble and bumble their way to the head of a major criminal organization. But rather than trying in vain to avoid the cliches inherent with such a familiar premise, 21 Jump Street completely embraces them and actually dictates its decision to do so. Maybe the best example of this is in Nick Offerman's all-too-brief cameo, as he stares down the lens and deadpans a monologue about recycling thin gimmicks from the past. For storyline purposes, he's talking about the department resuscitating the Jump Street undercover program, but it doesn't take a grin or a wink to know what he's really on about. He grins and winks anyway. As a parody of everything from its genre to its audience, this is pointedly effective stuff. It struggles to develop into anything more serious, but that's not really the point.