Movie Review: 22 Jump Street
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- June 13, 2014
By Mark Hodge (doddleNEWS)
21 Jump Street was something of a surprise, both critically and commercially, performing better than expected.
So while the sequel 22 Jump Street is ostensibly a broad comedy marketed firmly at young people, it still has a lot to live up to.
And overall all it does not disappoint. I generally judge the merits of mainstream fodder based on whether I walk out half way through or not, and with 22 Jump Street I stayed all the way to the end, although the last 20-minutes was admittedly a struggle.
The main players from the original film, which was a remake of the 1980s TV series, are back. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum reprise their roles as cops Schmidt and Jenko and once again pull of their unconventional buddy routine. Also, rapper Ice Cube makes a welcome return as the duo’s angry boss, Captain Dickson.
While both central characters are now too old to go undercover in a high school, they just about pass for college freshman and as a result we effectively have the same movie all over again.
Firstly, the film works and is funny. However much has been made of the self aware humor, with the actors knowingly poking fun at sequels, much like the first movie which made jokes about television remakes.
I have to admit that I found these jokes heavy handed and fairly unoriginal. In fact, stars such as Woody Allen and Mike Myers have been making comedy movies for decades, in which the characters are self aware and aim jokes at the film itself; so this is nothing new, despite all the fuss which it has generated.
A welcome addition to the franchise is?actress Jillian Bell who nearly steals the entire movie as the sarcastic room mate of Hill’s love interest, played by Amber Stevens.
Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, along with a team of co-writers including actor Hill, show once again that there is endless fun to be had parodying the buddy cop genre.
And with any buddy movie, the success of the project ultimately comes down to the two leads. Both Hill and Tatum are hilariously un-macho and dysfunctional, leading to a genuine on-screen chemistry. Indeed, it looked like they were both having fun making the movie and that certainly rubs off on the audience.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Here’s the trailer:
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