I'm not even quite sure what to say about '22 Jump Street' because it's barely a movie… damn funny this thing that's barely a movie, but barely a movie nonetheless. Just a bunch of gags thrown together to form something resembling a movie. But I found something to say about the first movie in the form of a review, funniest movie I saw that year, so I will think of something to say about this one. Funniest movie I've seen this year. If I see a funnier movie, then 2014 will be a great year for funny movies.
After their great success in high school, Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are still generally lousy cops blowing big cases, but fortunately for them their boss (Nick Offerman) is sending them back to Jump Street to crack an even bigger case. Similar to the last case. Almost exactly the same to be honest. Only this time, they're going to college.
The Koreans brought the church back from 21 Jump Street, so now it's time to move across the street to 22 Jump Street and take orders from their angry Black Captain (Ice Cube) who looks to be even angrier this time around, enroll in the local college and stop the onslaught of the designer drug calling itself WhyPhy. Just the same as last time… only in college.
Problem is these college kids aren't as stupid as those high school kids from the last movie and seem to recognize these cats as the mid-thirties cops they actually are, which is kind of keeping them from fitting in and getting the goods. I don't think Jonah Hill has actually reached thirty yet, but he sure looks like he has.
The real issue, however, isn't really the drugs, or the fact that Jenko and Schmidt are kind of lousy cops, it's real issue is that the bromance of the ages is on the rocks. Jenko has joined the football team as a wideout and found a new brolove in Zook the quarterback (Wyatt Russell). Schmidt, for his part, has met a pretty girl in Maya (Amber Stevens) the art student, with all of these events resulting in various degrees of funny.
Like any self-respecting bromantic comedy, bros are together, bro loses bro, bros have to return to one another to make it right. I'm getting misty just typing that. And maybe in between all of that, time allowing, crack the case, only if time allows.
So I'm playing over '21 Jump Street' in my head and I think I'm going to have to say that '22 Jump' street isn't quite as funny as '21 Jump Street'. I'm saying this because '21 Jump Street' caught us by surprise, caught me with my guard down and gave me something far more clever and imaginative and far funnier than I could've ever dreamed it would be. As such I'm ready for '22 Jump Street'. I now know that Channing Tatum is a comic genius, and with that knowledge my expectations are a bit higher.
Similar to the first movie, the gags come fast and they come furious and from all directions and there are all kinds of cultural references embedded deep in these gags… some so deep that you might need a literary guide to catch them all. The number of these gags that connected to the funny was high, but not quite as high as the first one… but then this had a couple of moments which were so funny… flashback…when I saw The Nutty Professor back in 1996, there was a guy in the audience who thought it was so funny that he was running up and down the aisles laughing, almost body surfing in the audience… flashback over… I wanted to be that guy, that's how funny those bits were. But I was with company and it might have been embarrassing if I had done that.
Like any sequel, it gives us more everything. It's even more self-aware of what it is, Ice Cube is even more angry, I think we can safely say that its more tasteless and crass, it has more action and bigger action, though directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller show more clearly that they really can't shoot a decent action sequence, at least not as clearly as they can shoot funny stuff, and this movie has arguably the best closing credits sequence in the history of cinema. And I hate to spoil it for you… sigh… but there's a Booker sighting! I kid you not! Richard Freaking Greico! Hell yes.
22 Jump Street is funny. If you go to the movie expecting to laugh, I think it this one is going to make that happen for you. This much I can promise.
Lisa's Take:
Well my expectations for '22 Jump Street' were probably a little lower than Chris's. I did enjoy '21 Jump Street', but didn't think it was on a 'Tommy Boy' or 'Happy Gilmore' level. And while I can't disagree it was one of the funniest movies of 2012, I think it says more about how unfunny 2012 was than how funny the movie was. As for funniest movie this year? Strong words, I'm probably more likely to vote 'The Lego Movie'. Why do I find the Lego Movie funnier? I think you know the answer….because EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Thus going into '22 Jump Street', I had zero expectations. It could be better than the first, it could be worse. No matter, I was just looking for some laughs. And boy did the movie deliver. The audience in the movie was laughing and laughing- no more so than the scene in which Jenko figures out why angry Captain Dickson is even angrier and taking away all the Cate Blanchett.
In his review Chris asked, what did he just watch? To that question I would say a buddy cop movie, one that is heavy on the buddy side and a rom com that surprisingly brought the romance. You know how rom com plots go- opposites attract to have the ugly duckling outcast catch the hot jock. The new couple at first are inseparable, they live together, finish each other sentences, and occasionally stop crime together. Then the honeymoon ends and they start to drift apart. The outcast, surprisingly, is the first one to stray, but considering his paralyzing fear of being alone, isn't completely off base. The jock is soon tempted by someone who's younger, hotter, and just gets him. Instead of opposites attracting, this new pairing is more of the like attracts like category, and eventually the jock chooses the younger, hotter one to complete him. Cut to the third act, when our star crossed duo realize how much they really need each other, that they can't imagine living life without each other. Cut to funny end credits which are as funny as Chris hypes and you just know our couple will live happily ever after. The fact that what I just wrote is about guys is irrelevant, the fact that the romance brought the laughs is all that matters. I too got misty eyed, crying tears of laughter, so here's to waiting for '23 Jump Street'. You know it's coming.
