22 Jump Street is the follow-up to the hugely successful 21 Jump Street (2012) that earned over $200 million at the box office on a budget of only $20 million. Since show business is a business, this sequel was no surprise to anyone.
The film opens with partners, Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill), about to make a bust. The bust goes badly and they end up causing a hilarious amount of damage while still managing to lose the criminals. Thus they end up in the office of Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) for disciplinary action. Guess who is getting sent back to Jump Street for more undercover shenanigans? Our intrepid pair of heroes then head off to MC State where they must infiltrate the hallowed grounds of frat parties, dorm life and occasionally a class or two. Schmidt hits it off with lovely lass named Maya (Amber Stevens) who happens to be rooming with the ex-roommate of their big lead in the investigation. Meanwhile, Jenko is bro’ing out with the quarterback of the football team, Zook (Wyatt Russell), in an attempt to track down a mysterious tattoo. We are also periodically treated to Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) ripping into Jenko and Schmidt in the least sympathetic way that is humanly possible – but it is a whole lot of fun to watch.
Just as in the last movie the buddy cops find their friendship tested, torn, tattered, and trampled. Just not in the way we saw last time, right? Wrong. Exactly the way we saw last time. Actually it is more than that. The goal here was to rip off the first movie in as smart and funny a way as possible and thereby make fun of the whole notion of sequels themselves. This is a funny conceit from a “screenwriting 101” perspective. It is certainly bound to be harder to pull off on the screen one would think. Yet oddly it works. The movie shoots for silly, corny, and manipulative in a wholly satirical way.
A running gag throughout the film is, “just do exactly what you did last time.” Which is the whole reason so many sequels or moribund exercises in futility. This movie is making fun of itself for being a blatant cash grab while simultaneously in the act of grabbing the cash.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in “22 Jump Street.” Photo by Glen Wilson – © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The acting here is really quite good because there is no shameful act that anyone is willing to not do. Tatum is fearlessly stupid at times. Hill is a totally whiny tool when the script calls for it. The rest of the cast does a serviceable job. However, Ice Cube and Offerman certainly stand out. The former takes a no prisoners approach to over-the-top levels and the later has an understated intensity that is just dying to tell you how stupid you really are. The hero here, to me though, is the script. It totally takes on what we all expect it to be and turns that on its head by playing right into it. Nice.
There is some bad news though. The chemistry between Hill and Stevens was really not there at all. You kind of have to see how nonsexual a post-coital cuddle can be? Likewise, the Mercedes character struck an off note.
All in all, 22 Jump Street was far better than I expected. The original film was a 3.5 for me. This one matches that and that is rare.
Steven Gahm
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