Review of 22 Jump Street

I think the character, Captain Hardy (Nick Offerman) sum this movie up within the first 10 minutes of the film. 'Nobody cared about the Jump Street reboot. But 21 Jump Street got lucky. So now this department has invested a lot of money to make sure Jump Street keeps going.' Indeed, nobody really care about 2012's 21 Jump Street being made. After surprising, folks when it was release, due to its humor. The studio indeed put more money into the sequel. It really does show. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, once again, the movie hit all the bad sequel clichés, while make it work due to its being self-aware. It wasn't as annoying as 2011's Hangover 2 type remake. Indeed, the movie pretty much follows the same plot as the last movie, but this time, the duo cops, Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) & Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) are going undercover as college students, looking to locate a mysterious drug dealer that deals with a drug called Why Phy (Work Hard Yes, Play Hard Yes, and pronounced "Wi-Fi"). I guess, people loves same old same old concepts. For me, I was all for another round of laughs from this movie, but I felt that, it was a bit cheesy at parts like the whole using a woman body as a weapon at the beach seem so out of place, the whole Mexican accent by Jonah Hill or the killer octopus attack slapstick. Then, there are the same old gags made for laughs that was a bit bitter taste such as I'm dating somebody you know, so get angry gag. Honestly, I like 2012's 21 Jump Street. It's like the taste of your first drink, but having more of the same old, same old, isn't going to be that great. Nothing can beats the original. After all, 2012's 21 Jump Street really did surprise me. This movie felt a little water down. What made this movie work over other recent comedies sequel such as 2013's Grown Up 2, and Scary Movie 5, is how it's mastered the meta approach towards sequels with clever inside genre movie tropes jokes, the movie is based on and for. It never sink so low, to add a lot of gross out humor. The movie is Rated R for crude language, sexual content, drug material, and violence. For a college term movie, it's pretty tame. I'm glad, it really want too raunchy like other movies. The acting is alright. Jonah Hill was a bit annoying at the beginning, but toward the end, he kinda was alright to watch. Channing Tatum was great as the clueless jock. I think the movie works due to the chemistry shared by the two leads. You can really see it as bromantic comedy. The supporting cast was a mostly a miss for me. Ice Cube as Captain Dickson wasn't that funny, after all, his shtick as the angry yelling black man is way old. The whole sub-plot of him getting mad over somebody dating a family member is just too cliché for me. I saw it, better use in his other movie, 2014's Ride Along. If anything, Jillian Bell as Mercedes was just wicked fun. She really didn't get that funny, until toward the end. The whole comedy exchange between her and Jonah Hill's character was just brilliant to watch. Without spoiling too much of it; one of the funniest things of the movie is during the credits gag. It lampshades a lot of 'maybe' sequels to this movie with a lot of celebrity cameos. The credits show possible concepts for future movies, from 23 Jump Street (med school) to 2121 Jump Street (undercover in space!). Who knows, maybe one of those movies will be made one day!? There are a number of memorable actions scenes in this film. My favorite, had to be the helmet cart car chase. Yes, some people might hates these movies because they are a mockery to the original material, 1987- 1991's dramatic show, 21 Jump Street, but it's hard to take the original show, seriously. After all, one of the original cast returns in a cameo in this film, to once again to give his blessing to the newer films. Overall: The movie is a masterpiece of both smart and dumb comedies. Yes, it use cheap laughs to get people through the plot, but the fact that most of it, is a retread of the first film and people don't care, really shows, how funny, people are willing to take it as it is.