REVIEWS: 21 Jump Street (2012) & Clueless (1995)

It's been a crappy couple of weeks so all I wanted to do is veg out and watch something light-hearted that didn't require me to think or feel too much.

First of all I watched a recent release - 21 Jump Street - starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. I basically decided to watch it because my Tumblr dash was plastered with jokes from the movie and it seemed really down my alley. Unfortunately it was also precisely this reason that I knew when the punchlines would come and spoiled it for myself....*sigh*.

If only my high school prom was this badass

Channing and Jonah do a pretty good job of the odd-couple police bros that have to go undercover as high school students to bust a drug ring. But I love the casting of some of the hilarious secondary characters as well, especially Dave Franco (little brother of James Franco) as the leader of the popular kids and Ellie Kemper as the teacher with cougar-ish tendencies. I had to Google her name as I only remembered her as the super sweet and naive bridesmaid in Bridesmaids and was happy to see her with a bit more screen time.

It was pretty much a win because the jokes were pretty relevant to the latest pop culture trends and I love how there was a nod to hipster culture with the popular kids. Humour was pretty crude but felt appropriate.

TL;DR VERDICT: 3.5/5 stars, awesome because of and in spite of doves flying out in boxes

Second movie is something that every teenage girl has probably watched but I some how missed out on - Clueless. It was interesting considering that this was actually an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, and I did actually accidentally catch a movie version years ago on TV.

Proving that you can get away with wearing anything if you're popular

Watching this successful high school flick from the nineties, I could kind of see where other modern successes like Mean Girls took cues from it. The popular and chic girl posse, the make over of the unappealing girl, the realistic naivety, awkwardness and confidence that is exuded by the young characters who think they own the world, and the hilarious genius of their quotes. These are all elements that have been inherited by the majority of current high school flicks, enough so that some have become cliche.

But I guess one thing they can never replicate is the at times ridiculous, but amazingly loud fashion of the nineties. I was a child much of the decade, but I can't remember if anyone dressed like this or this was just one big caricature. In any case it's cool to see how fashion changes in just a decade or two.

The other fun thing was spying successful actors when they were just wee little actors starting out in Hollywood. These include Paul Rudd in a rare role where he doesn't goof off, Brittany Murphy in an adorable ugly duckling role, and my favourite: Christopher Turk Donald Faison pretty much still playing the same goofy black guy trying to assert his street cred.

Alicia Silverstone really nailed down this movie, with her character Cher like a loveable version of Regina George that you genuinely felt for.

TL;DR VERDICT: 4.5/5 stars, a high school gem that is totally a Baldwin