21 Jump Street is incredibly stupid and yet, in this instance “stupid” also means “awesome”. See, many are unaware of the inescapable fact that there are different kinds of stupid. There is the mundane 80s Fox stupid of the original SHOW, 21 Jump Street and the hilarious, awesome stupid of the new movie. This is the sort of stupidness that will make you laugh while simultaneously making you feel embarrassed that you are laughing. I sort of glanced around, thinking; Lord, I hope no one saw me laugh at that. This is truly something for the filmmakers, actors and writers to be incredibly proud of—it is a feat more trying than winning the Decathlon.

I read one review of the film that decried the number of dick jokes, stating unequivocally, that there were too many. This is asinine. There can NEVER be too many dick jokes.

Ever.  Period.

Provided, of course, that the jokes are funny. The same goes for fart jokes, poop jokes, racist jokes, drug jokes and teen sex jokes. People do not get offended at jokes that are funny and told with humanity. Recall the mentally handicapped brother in Something About Mary.

If you approach this movie as a critic, or as a human being, with the slightest bit of seriousness, if you are looking for the message, then you are doomed. I do not mean just while you are watching the film. You are totally doomed. Korean Jesus is going to send you right to hell (if you don’t get that, you will after the movie).

21 Jump Street sends up the original TV show and Hollywood’s lamebrainedness at regurgitating old TV shows. It also pokes fun at those TV shows and movies. This "fun-poking" is sometimes obvious. You will see some of the jokes coming down Main Street like Robert Preston in Music Man but odds are you will still laugh. You will laugh again when they use the same gag twice. You will laugh at the little sideline jokes you see out of the corner of your eye (not as many or as funny in films like The Other Guys or Airplane but still, a good number). The film manages to make fun of itself without turning into a Johnny Carsonmonologue—the ones where he made fun of the bad the joke he just told. That is hard to pull off. Channing Tatum? Known more for lightweight romances? He is funny and should be in more comedies. We all know Jonah Hill, at his best, is funny. But Tatum is his equal here.

The cast includes appearances by Ice Cube, Rob Riggle and Chris Parnell who all make the most of their relatively small roles. Ice Cube gets the most screen time of the three but Parnell may get the most laughs per minute. Ellie Kemper also has a few moments. She is also adorable and ergo requires mentioning. Dave Franco is sort of the straight man. How could the eco-friendly popular high school kid not be that? But he also has some funny lines. Brie Larson also deserves mention. If you can be in this movie AND Rampart in the space of a year, kudos are in order for your range! Plus she was in Scott Pilgrim Versus the World which always means, for the rest of your career, you will get bonus credits. You can even be in an Adam Sandler “comedy.”

This brings us back to the rarity of actually funny comedies. I have a standard these days—the six out-loud laughs standard. A film is above average if it can manage that. I was there about 20 minutes into 21 Jump Street. The previews for upcoming “comedies?” If you cannot get ONE funny thing for the previews even with creative editing? It bodes ill. 21 Jump Street is funnier than the previews.

When a movie costs a lot of money and it flops there is glee amongst late night network talk show host writers. They don’t have to think for a week. All you have to do is compare said movie to pretty much anything and the sheep will baaaaah.  Part of the reason for seeing John Carterwas to see if the movie was actually worth a joke. Is it Heaven’s Gate? Is it Ishtar? (please do not post about how Ishtar is underrated. It sucks).

John Carter isn’t bad at all. And they charged me the same amount they usually do—despite how much Disney spent on the film.

In the realm of the comic book hero film (and yes I am aware this isn’t from a comic) this is actually pretty decent. People loved Thor last year. Of course that was, in part, because everyone expected it to be unwatchable and it is actually O.K. A couple of the reasons Thor is decent are shared by John Carter; they don’t try to over explain silly bits of the plot and the supporting actors are all top notch. When a movie like John Carter bends over backward to explain something like “the ninth ray” it spirals around the bowl. We get it when you just show us a guy with a “ninth ray” shiny glove frying everyone. And if the actors, even in small or voice only parts, are bad it makes the audience notice silliness more. To be sure there are failures with great casts but bad actors can kill even coherent fantasy and sci-fi writing.

It is kind of embarrassing to like either Thor or John Carter too much. There just isn’t that much there to get too crazy about. Sure, you can pretend that your interest is ironic and you are an intellectual. You can pretend to be looking at a literary comparison with the Edgar Rice Burroughs story (try to get your thesis committee to bite on THAT). All of that is crap. It is just silly crap that is put together well and gets fuzzy on details that bog it down.

Compared to other comic-like films (Captain America...brrr) it moves along fairly well. It is basically coherent, if silly, in plot. We really do not need to know the details of Thune culture or why some Martians have four arms and some look totally human (but with face tattoos..wait…Mike Tyson is a MARTIAN. That explains a great deal).

But there isn’t much more to say on John Carter. It is watchable. It is entertaining. It has attractive people and decent actors in it. It looks good (3D isn’t necessary to enjoy the film go to a cheap 2D showing). Other “fantastical” films like the brutal adaptations of young adult fiction such as The Lightening Thief or The Vampire’s Assistant or comic book hero fiascos like Iron Man 2, Ghost Rider or any of the X-Men related films after the first two, make you want to get more popcorn.

What is it about a movie like John Carter that makes it not connect with audiences when other, similar, films do? Is it really that John Carter cost so much more? Did it just come out too early or too late? It might be hype. Maybe just not enough Tarzan fans are around these days.

Fortunately in catching up with movies this week I also saw a film with a lot of penis jokes. More on that soon.