22 Jump Street – Film Review
Director(s): Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube
Release Date: Out Now
It goes without saying at this point that 21 Jump Street was one of the biggest surprises of 2012. An adaptation of a niche American sitcom from the 80s, it had all the symptoms of big, dumb action movie cash-in, with some occasional shtick provided by Jonah Hill.
No one expected it to be good, which made it so much sweeter when it turned out to be great. A sequel was inevitable.
And while it may be less of a surprise, the sequel to the movie that no one thought would be good is just as great, nimbly dodging the bullet of sequel-itis by charging into it face-first.
Some may remember 21 Jump Street ending with Ice Cube proclaiming that Jenko and Schmidt were going to college. It was, unarguably, the safest and most obvious route for a sequel. Do the same stuff again, but bigger, a philosophy the film doesn’t so much embrace as move in with.
Jenko and Schmidt do indeed go to college, where they are seeking out yet another drug lord while dealing with some personal issues. Chiefly, this involves Jenko glimpsing another life he could have and Schmidt dealing with how he views their totally heterosexual relationship.
It is, by and large, an almost identical film to the previous one. But while the narrative beats and pacing are near identical, the gags themselves are almost entirely original, which makes this self deprecating sequel a truly rare gem.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are well-known for their sly, break-the-fourth-wall humour (see the recent Lego Movie, or the excellent Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films for proof of this), but they move into overdrive for 22 Jump Street.
Subtle references to the TV show are still present and accounted for, but sly allusions to Channing Tatum’s acting resume are like a roundhouse kick to the funny bone, executed smartly and po-faced.
The ‘budget’ for this investigation is constantly referenced to, actually having an impact on the story itself during the second act. And Ice Cube takes his outlandish fury to new heights to hilarious effect, most of it aimed at a poor unfortunate named ‘Doug’.
Lord and Miller have proven, with every film they are involved in, that they are both talented and creative directors, able to spin memorable experiences out of bland concepts. Consider for a moment that both The Smurfs, a beloved childhood cartoon, and Lego, a brand of small plastic blocks, have both been given film adaptations around the same time. And the result? Case closed.
Here, however, it feels like they have climbed up yet another rung on the ladder of achievement. Sequels, by their very nature, are almost never as good as the original. And films that take that fact onboard rarely do anything other than say “Sequels are bad right? Well, here’s a sequel.”
Lord and Miller delicately balance a slideshow of reasons why big, dumb sequels are big and dumb, while coming up with a range of original gags that slot nicely into the same agenda they used for the first film.
There is a little bit of emotion at the heart of the film as well. This obviously isn’t central, but there is enough there for you to care about these characters throughout the film. As with the first film, Tatum is the more likable of the two. He rarely clashes with other characters, unless of course they deserve it. And even then, it’s with a clumsily enthusiastic desire to be the hero (“I’m your best ni-…I’m your worst nightmare!”)
The first film allowed him to dip his toe into the waters of comedy, and you get the sense that he’s more confident this time around in cracking jokes and generally being a bit silly. And like his break out role in Step Up, it is his dance moves that deserve the most praise.
Hill, meanwhile, is the necessary yang to Tatum’s ying, emphasizes by a number of splitscreen moments throughout the film. For every inspiring/triumphant moment Jenko experiences, Schmidt is undergoing a very different, often miserable episode. It’s the classic odd couple formula and it works as well now as it did when Jack Lemon and Walter Mathau did it in The Odd Couple in 1968.
Though Jack Lemon and Walter Mathau never drove through a college campus in a Football Helmet shaped Go-Kart…
In all honesty, 22 Jump Street is a simple enough film to sum up. It manages to be just as good as the first one, no better, no worse.
And if that seems a little bland, bear in mind that the first film was very, very funny.
Score: 4/5
Written by Stephen Hill
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