10 Best Movie Screenplays Since 2010

Michael Bacall And Jonah Hill (2011), Comedy

It's said that the golden age of screwball comedy in Hollywood is over, that they simply don't make them like they used to. Well, even if that is true a few modern comedies still shine through and 21 Jump Street did something that so many have failed before-it made us laugh throughout its running time.

Breathing fresh life into the age-old formula of the jock and the nerd at school, 21 Jump Street follows two cops-on-probation as they are forced to return to school, and the source of their former misery, to scope out a drug dealer who is targeting pupils with a new party drug.

Of course, this represents a second chance for the pair of them to address the problems they had with school the first time around.

But 21 Jump Street differs from most high school comedies and certainly the kind of ones John Hughes made in the 80s, as the old stereotypes have evolved into emo's and hipsters which are unrecognizable to our two leads, not to mention anyone over 30 today. A key aspect to the script's success is how it sets up its story with such economy of means. We begin in medias res, and within ten pages establish (in a single shot) that Jonah Hill's character was a nerd at high school, Channing Tatum's (how on earth is that his real name?) character was denied the prom due to bad grades, the two have reunited at the police academy where Hill is good at the academic stuff and Tatum is all about chasing the bad guys, they botch an operation and are reassigned to the school drug bust,-all the conflict, interpersonal and personal are established and we go flying into the story.

Too many stories take 30 pages to get things going, but 21 Jump St-which does not take itself too seriously- hits the ground running. I groaned when I heard Tatum and Hill had been cast as the lead, but they proved to be a great double-act who did justice to the script's nutty humour.