’22 Jump Street’ Review: Avoids the Usual Sequel Pitfalls by Pointing Them Out

As much as I enjoyed 2012's 21 Jump Street, I couldn't help but groan when I first saw a commercial 22 Jump Street. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty excited to watch it, but I know how Hollywood sequels go. They're created purely to make money, reformatting the same plot and jokes as the original movie, without being able to successfully execute either. While this plot was somewhat reformatted, 22 Jump Street exceeded my expectations by being smart enough to avoid a large amount of “sequel-syndrome.”

Taking up where the previous film left off, Officers Schmidt and Jenko (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, respectively) infiltrate a college to find the supplier of a new, powerful drug. Other than the setting change, the plot is more or less the same as 21 Jump Street. Screenwriters Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, and Rodney Rothman wisely use this to their advantage, inserting a variety of jokes poking fun at the film's sequel status. Most of these are pretty obvious, but there were a bunch of subtle one-liners that not everybody may pick up immediately. Ranging from parodies of romantic-comedy films, to some seemingly metaphorical lines, it was refreshing and impressive to see such a mainstream film not constantly feeding the audience hollow jokes.

Yet even when the film delves into some well tread upon comedic topics (drugs, drinking, crazy teachers, sex, police mishaps, funny accents), the jokes tend to end up being more mature than usual. They are short and to the point, never relying on gross-out or overly-crude humor. Amazingly enough, none seemed to be ripped off from the first movie (at least that I could notice). Sorry folks, but that recurring delayed-explosion gag from 21 Jump Street is nowhere to be found here. Many of the biggest laughs come from the interplay between Hill and Tatum, but Ice Cube steals the show as the ever-enraged Police Captain Dickson.

22 Jump Street is no cinematic masterpiece, but it's one hell of a fun time. It may not become everybody's favorite movie, but well worth the viewing. It manages to generally avoid sequel-syndrome, and is able to be and equal match for its successful predecessor.

(The film got a bonus point for having quite possible the funniest end credits sequence I've ever seen.)