So the raping of old TV shows in an attempt to produce a big screen version continues. Two words for you Hollywood: barrel, scraping.

This one may not be all that familiar to us in the UK as it never aired on our shores, but it's famous for kick starting Johnny Depp's career, starring as he did in the show of the same name as Officer Tom Hanson for a few years.

This big screening version however, takes the very bare bones of the show and creates something truly ugly.

Although they could never be considered friends at high school, Genko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) form a bond several years later as both of them help each other out at police academy.

Working well as a team – with Schmidt helping Genko out with the written tests, and Genko helping Schmidt out on the physical side – they complement each other well and manage to pass together.

However their first assignment – on park duty – isn't quite as glamorous as they thought. It doesn't matter though as the pair are quickly reassigned to an undercover squad. Their youthful looks are their way in back to high school, where a new drug, H.F.S, is being dealt. Although tasked with discovering who the dealer and suppliers are, they both find that the social politics of high school soon begin to get in the way of their real job.

I. HATE. SURPRISE. PARTIES.

The fact is, this film only has a title in common with the late eighties TV show; its legacy has been reduced to a really poor buddy film vehicle for Tatum and Hill.

The story, which Hill admits to having contributed to, somewhat embarrassingly, would look poor by early eighties standards of similar buddy flicks. Whereas the original TV concept was a drama, this film decides to go the comic route. Sadly though, no-one involved had a Sat-Nav that could get the film anywhere near its destination of Funny, USA.

Then there's the fact that despite his impressive weight loss, Hill, aged 29, can't pass for a high school student; neither can his 32 year-old co-star for that matter. The script attempts to pick up on this in places, but the gags are as flat at Hill's current stomach situation.

And then there's the predictability of it all. Many of the gags are so visible in their approach, they're almost 3D.

Much of the blame must be laid at the feet of the film's directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. With a background in animation (they directed the thoroughly enjoyable Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), they clearly let their live action debut runaway with itself. At times it feels so loose, it doesn't even feel that scripted; it would be no surprise to learn if Hill adlibbed his way through the entire thing, proving that sometimes it's good to have a writer on board who knows what he's doing.

It's probably the first out and out comic role for Tatum, and by this evidence, he needs to stick to the more serious roles. Or just hang out less with Hill.

If the pair really wanted to work together on a buddy film, they should have found a project that wasn't already associated with drama. By morphing the TV show into something else, the result is neither dramatic, nor funny. What they created was a bland hybrid, and nobody wants to see that. Certainly one worth crossing the street to avoid.