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| Definitely not a shitty sequel (image from: http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTcwNzAxMDU1M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDE2NTU1MTE@._V1_.jpg) |
I appreciate my comedy flicks. Without comedy movies, my movie viewing would be a lot less enjoyable in my opinion. You need some laughter to go along with all that drama and grit. It's nice to see that 22 Jump Street delivers on the laughs non-stop throughout the entirety of it's run time.
22 Jump Street came at a weird place. People are sick of sequels, especially comedy sequels. Who the hell wants to see idiots doing stupid shit another time? Surely 22 Jump Street wouldn't be funny. It could NEVER live up to it's predecessor, 21 Jump Street.
Well, the good news is that it does, and it even surpasses 21 Jump Street in terms of hilarity.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum reprise their roles as officers Schmidt and Jenko, the bumbling duo from the original movie. The movie makes itself clear right off the bat:
In order for it to be successful, it needs to do the exact same thing as the first movie. Get these two guys to go undercover in College instead of High School and bust a drug ring. This sounded kinda dull. Why do the exact same thing? Well the movie makes reference to that as well.
If you do the same thing, fans will be happy. You didn't change anything for the worst so play it safe and if you do the same thing, you'll get results.
It's this self awareness that makes 22 Jump Street hilariously great. It sets itself up to be a typical college sequel, and it KNOWS it's doing that. It makes references to the original movie, it makes references to possible future movies, it even makes self aware references to the actors with how old they look and so much more.
22 Jump Street, this time around, has Jenko and Scmidt go undercover at UMC attempting to find out who's been supplying the drug 'Whyphy' (pronounced Wifi) to the student body. We get to see Jenko and Schmidt go through college life, but not in a typical college movie way. Instead of the college life being the center of attention, we are treated to some hilarious moments between the two characters and how their close relationship together works.
Many times I found myself laughing at the jokes made at Jenko and Schmidt and how they were like a couple. I loved that Jenko kept his character from the original and was this large, loveable idiot and Jenko was a still the socially awkward, clingy, smart one. I love that Ice Cube reprises his role as the angry and HILARIOUSLY emotional Captain Dickson.
I also loved that the laughs never stopped coming.
Seriously, the jokes are so funny! And they're not as repetitive as I thought they would be. Instead of just sticking to simple slap stick visual gags or crude, vulgar shock value jokes for 2 hours, we're given a variety of jokes. These jokes range from being self aware of itself being a sequel to a comedy movie to some amazingly delivered dialogue between Jenko and Schmidt.
I should note that Jenko and Scmidt's screen time together is the star of the show here. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have this amazing chemistry that make them a comedy duo to look out for. Just about every laugh I got out of 22 Jump Street was from how the characters interacted with each other. Most of the jokes were subtle as well, relying on the viewer to know what they're like and know how they'd behave in certain situations.
Granted, while 22 Jump Street is a much better comedy than 21 Jump Street, it relies on the viewer to have seen the original movie. There's just too much going on that relies on previous knowledge of characters and themes that if you've never seen 21 Jump Street you won't be laughing as hard.
But I don't think this is a negative, not at all. In fact this is how a sequel SHOULD be done. 22 Jump Street essentially does what many other sequels don't, and that's building on what made the original so great.
It's also nice to see some social commentary on how the audience views modern sequels as trash and quick cash grabs. The film makes tons of references towards that and it works for it's benefit. Like the first movie, which was basically making comments on how unrealistic action movies can be, 22 Jump Street just talks about itself as a movie sequel. It's absolutely brilliant.
The best part though is that unlike MANY other comedy movies, the best jokes have been kept away from trailers. Again, this is how it should be.
2 thumbs up for the director, writers, producers, EVERYONE who made 22 Jump Street. It was hilarious, it was charming, it was genuinely lovable. But most importantly, it's a shining example of how you should be making a sequel.
In fact, 22 Jump Street felt like a new episode for a sitcom. Which is, again, a self awareness thing since the movies are based off of the television series of the same name.
Pure hilarity, pure fun. Watch it now.
Verdict: 5/5
Postives:
+ One of the best sequels to anything I have ever seen.
+ Jenko and Schmidt deliver amazing character chemistry together and still provide laughs when apart.
+ Great use of self awareness. (The Lego Movie was good for that, and it's by the same people!)
+ Non-stop laughs.
+ Ice-Cube shows himself to be a competent comedy actor.
+ It's not a shitty College sequel movie whatsoever!
Negatives:
- Wished it was a little bit longer
Rating Key:
1 - Don't bother wasting your time. Don't even look at the trailers.
2 - Save it for bad movie night or for background noise during sex if it's not entertaining enough.
3 - Not bad, kinda average, but don't watch it twice in a short amount of time.
4 - Good, worth a second watch and worthy of a group viewing for marathons or what not.
5 - Awesome! Has the chance to be a classic and something that you should TOTALLY bug your friends into watching!
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