With as well-received as 21 Jump Street was, it makes sense that Hollywood would want a sequel. To be honest, I wanted a sequel too. I laughed to the point of tears when I saw the first in this series, so needless to say I had my expectations set pretty high for 22 Jump Street. Luckily it appears that the team behind these films can do no wrong.
Yes, it’s a replica of the first, but rather than it turning out like The Hangover 2 that tried to look past the fact that it’s a complete copy, this film is extremely self-aware. The writers want you to know that they are doing the exact same thing over again just with a bigger budget. At least for the first half. Their openness to make jokes about that very thing is what makes it acceptable.
In 22 Jump Street we are reunited with Schmidt and Jenko, played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Not much has changed since the events of the last film. They’re still screwball cops and they have a new assignment: Infiltrate the dealers, find the supplier. Sound familiar? Well it would if you saw the first one. This time, however, they’re in college. I don’t want to give too much of the movie away so I won’t go into any more plot details, just know that the entire film isn’t completely identical to its predecessor. At about the halfway mark the plot takes a turn in a more unexpected direction which makes this film a well-rounded sequel.
I’m just going to come right out and say it, 22 Jump Street is funnier than the original. Hill and Tatum are a phenomenal on-screen team that you can’t help but enjoy watching, and the supporting cast including Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec), Peter Stormare (The dick villain-type from every movie in the ’90s/early 2000s), Amber Stevens (Greek), Jillian Bell (Workaholics) and Ice Cube steal every scene that they’re in. Especially Ice Cube and Jillian Bell. Obviously with a bigger budget you can also expect to see a few cameos. If you want to laugh out loud for 112 minutes do yourself a solid and go see this movie.
22 Jump Street is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. In theaters June 13th.
