The first trailer for 22 Jump Street had me worried. While the laughs were there, the recycled plot of the first movie scared me. Playing the same cards in the same format never works. Don’t believe me? Watch The Hangover followed by The Hangover Part II or The Hangover Part III. But while 22 Jump Street follows the same model as 21 Jump Street, it uses the plot as a tool to conjure countless self-aware jokes that make the recycled story have a purpose. On top of it all, 22 Jump Street is just as funny as anyone could hope it to be.
As pointed out in the movie itself, no one expected the Jump Street reboot to be as funny or lucrative as it was. Because of that, the Jonah Hill/Channing Tatum duo is back. Instead of going undercover to discover the source of a new drug going around high schools, they’re sent on an undercover operation to discover the source of a new drug being going around a local college. Seriously. The only difference is the setting – but that’s all part of the movie’s grand scheme.
The main characters’ bromance is put to the test as they do what all students do at college – discover themselves. Jokes are made about how much of a fluke it was that the two quickly cracked the case in the first movie – but this time around, they’re not so fortunate. It takes them quite a while and a lot of work to actually uncover the truth.
Along the way we get loads of laughs. Just as many laugh-out-loud bits are features in the sequel as there are in the first movie – if not more. Through hilarious gags that make fun of the actors themselves, the plot and the franchise as a whole, you never stop laughing. 22 Jump Street is the kind of comedy that leaves your face aching from smiling constantly.
I’m completely burned out on sequels and could use a lot more original blockbusters – like last weekend’s Edge of Tomorrow – but I’ll gladly follow this bromantic duo if they can keep it up.
(Photo credit: Sony)
