Remember the time you really laughed? Not a courtesy laugh or a half-hearted chuckle because a laugh track told you what to do. I’m talking the kind of laugh you get between old friends reminiscing about crazier days. An exhausting bellow that tightens the stomach, creating unexpected sounds that leave a tensed diaphragm. The kind of laugh only a few films can evoke. “21 Jump Street” joins a short list of gut-wrenchingly funny films, and sets a new standard for remakes and reboots.

Channing Tatum appears as Jenko, and Jonah Hill stars as Schmidt, in Columbia Picture’s new release, “21 Jump Street”. (photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

In high school, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) was an Emimen-looking nerd with no confidence, while Jenko (Channing Tatum) was the jerk jock failing his classes. Seven years later, the pair meet once again in the police academy, combining their individual strengths — Schmidt’s brain and Jenko’s muscle — to overcome their weaknesses as law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, their hard work concludes in a cycling beat. Not quite the car chases and shootouts they expected.

After botching their first bust, they get bumped to a recently revived undercover division where young officers infiltrate high schools to take down gangs and drug rings. If reality TV taught us one thing, it’s high school never ends for some people, and Jenko and Schmidt face the greatest trial their friendship will ever face: reentering the battlefield of insecurity and gossip known as high school. The metaphor for life becomes their new work place.

Rather than bother paying tribute to the 1987-1990 television show starring Johnny Depp, this remake takes an unexpected turn. It’s crass, violent and makes fun of itself. Dropping the melodrama, this one’s all jokes. “Land of the Lost” tried this formula, taking a campy TV show and satirizing it even further, but it didn’t go far enough, leading to flat comedy. “21 Jump Street” goes the distance, using a remake only in name. Cops in high school. That’s all we get from the source material, and it’s a major strength of the film.

Schmidt and Jenko might be some of the worst cops, but their on-screen chemistry is undeniable. By itself, a jock and a nerd teaming up in a buddy cop flick isn’t special, but the screenplay, performances and film flow make for a crisp movie that, while of course predictable, does everything right. It’s really all thanks to the films leading stars.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum fight crime while keeping the laughs coming in “21 Jump Street”. (photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

Always supporting comic relief, Hill owns center stage with the same awkward performance he brings to much of his other work. If you like him in his other films, you’ll love him here. Unexpectedly, Tatum equally dominates, almost allowing us all to forget his long history of subpar performances in equally forgettable films. Tatum finally lets his inner dumb jock fly, and the results speak loudly for themselves.

The film also has quite the supporting cast. Rob Riggle (the dissed cop from “The Hangover”), as Coach Walters, is typecast as we’d expect. Ellie Kemper, as Ms. Griggs, channels all the awkward energy she put into “The Office” and “Bridesmaids” into another memorable bit part. Brie Larson (Kate in “United States of Tara”), as Molley Tracy, finally gets a bigger role, proving she’s worth keeping an eye on.

The major surprise here is Ice Cube as Captain Dickson, who proudly states his stereotypical loud African American police captain persona. He spends much of the film creatively cursing at Jenko and Schmidt, but there’s an air of poetry in his sentence structure. In one of the more biting moments, he introduces Jenko and Schmidt to their new case by first stating how important it is to uncover drug mules since a “white student died.”

Much like “Pineapple Express”, this is an action movie that highlights the absurdity of action movies. Remember when the A-Team were plummeting to Earth in a tank and effectively slowed their descent by firing the cannon straight down? How about John McClane’s (of “Die Hard”) ability to keep fighting after he’s clearly lost the majority of his blood? “21 Jump Street’s” chalk full of action, but there’s very little visceral entertainment value because every explosion is tempered with an even more hysterical comment about the idiocy of that explosion (or a lack of one in several cases).

It’s been a couple years since a film premiered that is this funny. Decent acting, great characters and some fabulous cameos: this is what an action comedy should look like every time.