Stop me if you've heard this one already: roughly two decades after a popular cop series has gone off the air, Hollywood gets the bright idea to remake it as a big-screen vehicle for two young, likeable stars (one of whom also writes the screenplay), which puts a decidedly comic spin on what used to be a straightforward procedural. At the same time, they also make sure to include a number of shout-outs to the source material in the form of visual gags, recycled sets and cameos from some of the stars of the original show. No, I'm not talking about the new version of that '80s chestnut 21 Jump Street that's arriving in theaters today, starring the unlikely duo of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I'm referring to Dragnet, the 1987 Dan Aykroyd/Tom Hanks update of Jack Webb's iconic show, which aired from 1951-1959 and again from 1967-1970. (There were two later revivals as well, but neither of those starred Webb.) It's somehow fortuitous that Dragnet is celebrating its 25th anniversary the same year that 21 Jump Street arrives in theaters, because the two movies really do have a lot in common, except for one key thing... Jump Street is actually really funny. So why did this one succeed where its predecessor failed? We examine the evidence:

In an alternate universe, Rob Riggle may have become a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. In this version of Earth though, the Kentucky-born Riggle enlisted with the Marines in 1990 only to leave the corps not long after to pursue a career in comedy (he's still a Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserve). It took about a decade, but that career move has paid off. A tour of duty with New York's Upright Citizens Brigade led to guest spots on shows like The Office followed by a high-profile stint as a Daily Show correspondent. These days, Riggle is an established scene-stealer on film and television, popping up in everything from Tina Fey's 30 Rock to Tom Hanks's Larry Crowne. This weekend, Riggle has a small, but crucial turn in 21 Jump Street, playing a kooky gym teacher named Mr. Walters, who crosses paths with two undercover cops-turned-high school students (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) investigating a student-run drug ring. Riggle spoke to us about impersonating a gym teacher, his sketch comedy background and why going to UCB was like attending graduate school.

It's understandable that the thought of a 21 Jump Street movie sounds like the height of Hollywood creative bankruptcy. But stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum made it their mission to produce a Jump Street film that's not just a wan carbon copy of the original '80s cop series that's best known for launching the careers of Johnny Depp and... um, Richard Grieco. Audiences will find out for themselves on Friday whether they succeeded in that endeavor. Prior to the film's release, Hill and Tatum turned up at a New York press conference (clad in their cop uniforms from the movie no less) and talked about the origins of the project, their on-screen chemistry and what other '80s series they'd like to remake.

Although all of the ads for the new romantic comedy Friends with Kids play up the movie's impressive ensemble -- Jon Hamm! Kristen Wiig! Maya Rudolph! Megan Fox! -- they don't indicate that Adam Scott is actually the movie's leading man. The Parks and Recreation star plays Jason Fryman, a single-and-loving-it New Yorker who decides to enter into an unusual arrangement with his best friend, Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt, who also wrote and directed the movie): they'll have a kid together and share joint custody, but since they're not actually attracted to each other, they won't bother with marriage. At first, this arrangement gives Jason the best of both worlds as he's able to experience the fun of fatherhood while also being able to indulge his single guy hormones by dating a smoking hot Broadway dancer (Megan Fox). But then... well, you'll just have to see the movie for yourself. In town for the movie's premiere, Scott spoke with us about how he scored the gig and what costume he wore for Halloween last year. (Hint: He previously donned it for a very popular episode of Parks and Rec.)

David Wain's Wanderlust is neither the most original nor compelling movie ever made, let alone of the year so far. It is, however, laugh-out-loud funny (and not just in a raunchy way) and probably the only film in 2012 that will reference the Nintendo Power Glove. Starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a New York City couple who find themselves living on a rural commune, Wanderlust's concept is about as complicated and creative as Role Models, Wain's 2008 movie that I personally found to be surprisingly hilarious. These days, I've been such a fan of Childrens Hospital that my expectations for Wanderlust were fairly high -- even factoring in that the movie had been postponed from its fall release date to February, which is typically regarded as the time of year that studios stick... let's just say their "less than Oscar-worthy" movies -- and I was still impressed with it. While the film is in no way perfect, several major components make it into a success:

If you're like us, the trailer for the new action-laced romantic comedy This Means War left you with a ton of questions. Sure, "Why was this movie made?" is the most obvious one, but the premise -- two CIA agents (Tom Hardy and Chris Pine) fall in love with the same woman (Reese Witherspoon) -- confused us for other reasons as well. Now that we've seen the McG-directed film -- which will have Valentine's Day showings tonight before opening in general release on Friday -- we can address some of the burning questions it raises. Questions like...

Considering Hollywood's current obsession with remaking every single movie released during the '80s, it's surprising that Adventures in Babysitting -- a nostalgic favorite for anyone that grew up in that decade -- hasn't already been updated into a star vehicle for some tween sensation like Selena Gomez or Miranda Cosgrove. (Word on the web is that Raven-Symoné was attached to a potential remake at one point, but that project is currently on hold.) Now those girls are going to have to find another Me Decade reboot to star in (the rights to Valley Girl and Flashdance may be available...) because the unlikely duo of director David Gordon Green and star Jonah Hill have gone ahead and made their version of Chris Columbus's 1987 after-hours comedy under the more generic title, The Sitter. Granted, this off-brand remake is a hard R-rated comedy whereas Adventures in Babysitting falls into kinder, gentler PG-13 territory, but otherwise the two movies have more in common than you might imagine, right down to the sequence in which the respective sitters drag the three tykes in their care to a potentially dangerous downtown nightclub where they're distinctly out of place.

Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill -- in which he plays both Jack Sadelstein and his frumpy twin sister, Jill -- is not a good movie. I don't think you needed me to tell you that. But it is funny, though, and not in a fart-joke kind of way. I mean, there are a lot of fart jokes -- scenes entirely made up of god-awful fart jokes! -- but there are also tiny moments packed into Jack and Jill that are laugh-out-loud funny. Should you be dragged to this film by a child (it's rated PG, after all), you will not grow to hate and resent said little one for the rest of your life... that is, if you follow our handy guide on suffering through the terribleness:

In just two short years, 3D has gone from being the perceived savior of the theatrical experience to the favorite whipping boy of critics (myself included) and Hollywood analysts. Blame the high surcharge that 3D places on the cost of a movie ticket, blame the glut of 3D movies in the marketplace, but most of all blame the studios for churning out such relentlessly unappealing 3D fare. Terrific examples of the format like Coraline and, of course, Avatar have largely given way to shoddy conversion jobs (Clash of the Titans, The Last Airbender), obvious cash-grabs (the upcoming 3D re-releases of the Star Wars movies) and films that don't actually seem to make use of the extra dimension (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Captain America: The First Avenger). Since James Cameron kick-started the new 3D boom, the only dimensionally-enhanced movies that didn't feel like complete rip-offs were Jackass 3D and Piranha 3D, neither of which could be accurately described as "artistic triumphs." For that matter, neither could A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, but that doesn't change the fact that the latest installment in one of the young century's most unlikely franchises is also the first post-Avatar production that needs... nay demands to be seen in 3D for maximum enjoyment.* Here are five reasons why:

If Tower Heist feels a lot like Ocean's Fourteen, that's not entirely accidental. After all, both this movie and the Ocean's pictures involve an all-star crew of crooks attempting to rip off a wealthy mark that has wronged them. Beyond that, the movies share a screenwriter (Ted Griffin, who wrote Ocean's Eleven, though not the sequels) and a co-star (Casey Affleck). But here's the way to tell them apart: the Ocean's adventures were directed by Steven Soderbergh, while Tower Heist is a Brett Ratner joint. That means that the jazzy, inventive visual palette that Soderbergh brought to his movies has been replaced by a workmanlike style that's professional without being particularly interesting. The heist at the center of Tower Heist also pales in comparison to the elaborate schemes that Danny Ocean and his accomplices pulled off. Their plans were ridiculous enough to be believable -- this one is just ridiculous. Still, thanks largely to the cast (some of them anyway), Tower Heist isn't the botch that Ratner's last comic thriller, After the Sunset, was. It's a serviceable bit of studio fluff that keeps your eyes, if not your brain, occupied for 100 minutes. (Too bad the studio didn't follow through on its initial plans to release the film on VOD three weeks into its theatrical run; the movie will likely play much better at home on your TV screen than in the theater.) Here's how the individual members of this crew rate: