[REVIEW] – 22 Jump Street

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie)

Starring: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Jillian Bell, Ice Cube, Nick Offerman

Certificate: 15

Run-time: 112 minutes

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/TbN–8ja1L4&source=uds

IN SHORT: Although a 2-hour case of deja-vu, 22 Jump Street is still a funny summer comedy.

With a $140 million return on its $42 million investment, 21 Jump Street proved to be a commercial success, offering a fine balance between R-rated comedy and action set-pieces. The first film also cemented Channing Tatum as a star, with a comedic timing that had yet to be unearthed. Ofcourse when a film is so successful, a sequel isn’t far behind. Despite their success in the first movie, Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) are still not trusted to do real police work. So they’re given the exact same case again. But this time – they’re going to college (I bet you just said that in Ice Cube’s voice)!

22 Jump Street treads on the same ground as the first one, utilising an identical narrative structure but inside a college setting. What’s different though is the relationship between Jenko and Schmidt. The bromance in the first movie is replaced with overt homo-eroticism. In films like Superbad or I, Love You Man, this manly affection is a subtle subtext, in 22 Jump Street it’s the driving force of the narrative and quickly grows tiresome. When writer Michael Bacall continuously reaps the seemingly bottomless well of sexuality jokes, the tone is more awkward than funny. Another slight difference is the use of Captain Dickson (Ice Cube). The affectionately abusive Captain is more integral to the plot and the movie is far better because of it.

22 Jump Street is at its funniest when Schmidt and Jenko are required to do real police work, such as engage in high-speed car chases or assume Mexican identities to infiltrate a drug cartel. The juxtaposition of the dangerous scenario at hand and the idiocy of the two incompetent heroes is comedic gold. One particularly notable scene sees Schmidt and Jenko sneak into a fraternity house. Jenko expertly scales the building with some impressive parkour skills whilst Schmidt slowly ascends with a complicated pulley system. It’s a wordless scene that evokes comedy through its direction, instead of through dialogue.

Due to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s commitments to The Lego Movie, there was no time for script revisions and 22 Jump Street does suffer in this regard. Plenty of scenes that start off as funny, quickly over-stay their welcome. Certain scenes also feel improvised. Sometimes this can be a great, organic way of producing comedy but in this case, it works against the movie. In the rather rushed denouement, an unnecessarily sexualised fight scene between Jonah Hill and the main villain has the audience cringing rather than laughing.

Overall, 22 Jump Street is a worthwhile summer comedy but it doesn’t match the hilarious heights of the first. The disarming wit and self-mocking humour can’t hide the fact that the movie is a 2-hour case of deja-vu. Its writing mocks lazy and formulaic Hollywood sequels but 22 Jump Street doesn’t deviate or improve upon the first one. Ironically, 22 Jump Street ends up being a lazy and formulaic Hollywood sequel. Once the credits roll, a series of mock movie posters tease future Jump Street ideas that I won’t ruin. Whilst laughing at the wacky concepts though, I also found myself wondering if they’d have made for more interesting, original movies than the one I’d just watched!