22 Jump Street (Cinema Screening)

(Spoilers)

21 Jump Street quickly became a comedy favourite of many when it was released in 2012, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum had such great on screen chemistry and with genuinely funny gags it was easy to see why. When news came of a sequel in the works I was far from happy, I thought that this would be a stereotypical sequel trying to cash in on the success of the first movie but being so much worse. This was not the case and I actually think that 22 Jump Street was better than the original.

So yes a lot of this movie is very similar to the first however as the film itself makes fun of – just do the exact same thing over again and it will work. All that has really changed is the setting, the transition from high school to college. This made for a great opportunity to use similar gags from the first but also try new gags, which generally had an almost 100% success rate – there were maybe only one or two jokes that I didn’t find genuinely funny. Unfortunately one of these was a set piece involving a car chase however it was still entertaining I just imagine that it wasn’t as funny as it was intended to be. Anyway the rest of this film is just so endlessly funny that I didn’t care, it really was laugh out loud hilarious. Easily the best gag in the film was the fallout from Schmidt sleeping with Dickson’s daughter. Including Ice Cube more in this film was a stroke of a genius and although this gag was milked it honestly never got old! The cinema audience actually erupted into applause on several occasions because of this joke.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are perfect for these roles and their performances bring a lot to the value of this film. Although Hill is obviously funny I think that Tatum easily steals the show. The fact that he can carry off the action and the comedy just makes him more impressive and I genuinely think he is funnier, but nonetheless the comedic strength of this duo is quite something. 22 Jump Street had fantastic pace to it and it never slowed down, action was included and although it is no Bad Boys in terms of this there were some cool sequences. Due to the setting of college, at times there were striking resemblances to recent comedy Bad Neighbours. I went into this movie thinking that there was no way that Jump Street could top it but I actually think it did manage it. So the finale wasn’t as good as 21 Jump Street but I think the rest of the film was stronger and 22 Jump Street has done the unthinkable and bettered its younger little brother. Other highlights for me included the soundtrack and the really funny popular culture references.The end credits were another highlight for me and not because the film was over (often the case for comedy sequels!) This sequence just clean took the piss out of movie sequels and franchises that don’t know when to stop. If I am honest I do hope that they stop with this effort as Jump Street is now such a great comedy two pack and I wouldn’t want a third movie to ruin that *cough* The Hangover Part III *cough*.

BIGGEST FLAW – Some unfunny gags (although inevitable with comedies)

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – THAT Ice Cube gag

Rating – 9/10