22 Jump Street review

22 JUMP STREET:

A BROMANTIC SEQUEL WITH MORE DRUGS, CAR CHASES, AND LAUGHS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES/MGM

Jonah Hill (left) and Channing Tatum (right) going undercover again in 22 Jump Street

            “YOU TWO SONS OF BITCHES ARE GOING TO COLLEGE!”

            Jonah Hill (Superbad, This is the End, The Lego Movie) and Channing Tatum (Magic Mike, Side Effects, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) return as buddy cops, Jenko and Schmidt in the sequel to the 2012 comedy hit, 21 Jump Street. And honestly when I first heard about the sequel, 22 Jump Street coming out, I thought for sure it was going to bomb, because we’ve had several underwhelming and bad comedy sequels in the past like The Hangover Parts II and III, Grown Ups 2, the American Pie sequels, and pretty much the entire Scary Movie franchise.

            However, we’ve had plenty of decent comedy sequels too like A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas and more recently, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. And to my surprise, 22 Jump Street is one of those decent comedy sequels, it had pretty much everything we loved about the last movie like the crude and gross-out gags, witty dialogue, sex and drugs, and of course some good old shoot em up action.

            Two years after the events of 21 Jump Street, we find our favorite mismatched cops, Greg Jenko (Tatum) and Morton Schmidt (Hill) in pursuit of Mexican drug dealers and their leader, Ghost (Peter Stormare-Fargo, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters). Unfortunately the chase doesn’t end very well, and Schmidt and Jenko are called back in by Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman-Sin City, We’re the Millers, The Lego Movie) and sends them back into the Jump Street program, once again being led by the screaming Captain Dickson (Ice Cube-Friday, Ride Along), only this time, they’re going to college.

            It turns out there is another new drug going around the college, known as the WHYPHY (Work Hard Yes, Play Hard Yes, I know, clever name right?) and Jenko and Schmidt’s mission is to once again, infiltrate the dealers and find the supplier. They get their old fake identities back as Brad and Doug and search through the entire college, and hopefully find the dealers and the supplier.

            The film also features the return of fan favorites like the outrageous, Rob Riggle (The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, Step Brothers) as Mr. Walters, the hilarious gym teacher/drug supplier from the first movie who got his dick shot off by Schmidt, and Dave Franco (Neighbors, Superbad) as Eric, the dealer from the last movie. Like in 21 Jump Street, Mr. Walters is absolutely hilarious and just about everything he says when he shows up will get a good laugh out of you.

            Overall, for a comedy sequel, 22 Jump Street manages to be not just as funny and memorable as its predecessor, but it may have been a little funnier. Sure the concept is similar to the first film, but it manages to still stay fresh and new with the jokes and gags and more of the likable chemistry between Tatum and Hill we loved from the previous movie.

            Of course, if there’s one person who was funnier in this film than Rob Riggle, it’s Ice Cube, good lord this dude is hilarious here. Sure he had a lot of funny moments in the first one, but I don’t think there’s a comparison between him in this film. Just about every time he’s on screen, it’s followed by hysterical laughter from the audience.

            You can tell, for the most part I enjoyed this sequel, but there was one thing that I was disappointed with. This movie doesn’t include the running gag with the exploding cars from 21 Jump Street; I would have loved to see a new take on that hilarious moment.

            If you enjoyed 21 Jump Street, there’s a very strong chance you will love the sequel either just as much as the first, or more. Boosting the over the top car chases, gun-slinging action, and witty writing and jokes; it will most likely lead to more sequels, all the way up to 2121 Jump Street.