From the directors of this year’s incredibly successful The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street is the successor to 2012’s 21 Jump Street, a comedy about two underachieving cops sent back to
high school to bring down a drug ring. Fresh from their success, agents Schmidt
(Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are instructed to take on another
undercover mission, this time within a local college. Under the stern eye of
Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), it’s up to Schmidt and Jenko to uncover the source
of a new drug whilst trying – and failing – to avoid the temptations of college
life.
It has to be said that having not seen the previous film and
feeling a little unsure about the trailer (plus my in-built aversion to Jonah
Hill ever since Superbad) I was
probably pre-disposed not to like it…but I did…a lot. The key is that it is a
film written and directed by people who understand that comedy doesn’t have to
just be someone shouting out loud about why what happened on-screen was funny.
The comedy is an eclectic mix of referential humour, witticisms, physical slapstick
and more. It knows what it is and has fun with it.
In terms of characters, the most laughs come from an almost
permanently irate Ice cube as the police captain, his frustration and annoyance
with the two leads creates a nice selection of in-jokes, proving that he works
best when he’s not trying to be taken seriously. Channing Tatum still has all
the charisma of a slab of meat but the dialogue he’s given helps him retain the
bromantic chemistry with Hill that toes – and tries desperately to cover up –
the outer-most borders of homoeroticism, the latter providing just enough
laughs to bring him that one step closer to redemption in my eyes. The side
characters are few and far between but those that are there handle themselves
well with the exception of Patton Oswalt as a lecturer who briefly shows up to
be reliably obnoxious then thankfully disappears for the remainder of the film.
Something that really stood out for me is that the college
campus in the film – in a break from usual Hollywood tradition – appears to be
peopled by people and not the contents of an Abercrombie and Fitch advert, and
while there a couple of the old stereotypes hanging about here and there, they’re
not incessantly annoying and a couple of them actually have a couple of neat
twists tied to them. There is a small section about 20 minutes into the film
where Jenko and Schmidt first walk onto campus where things sag a little in the
comedy department but luckily this doesn’t last very long or detract from the
overall enjoyment.
Sporting enjoyable leads who bounce off each other both
figuratively and literally, a cavalcade of comedy, a light tone and action set
pieces that are snappy and energetic, 22
Jump Street is just want you want in a summer buddy-cop movie, and will
keep you laughing consistently right up to – and including – the end credits.
4 stars
