“The Koreans bought the church back, so we had to move across the street... to 22 Jump Street.”

Hello :-)

‘Self-aware sequels’ is a micro-millimetre away from being its own sub-genre. With ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ having paved the way in March (my post about which is going up prior to the DVD release in August), now comes ’22 Jump Street’ from the creative duo, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

We pick up where 21 Jump Street left off. Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are assigned by Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) back on the Jump Street program to work for Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), now located across the street at 22 Jump Street. Their assignment is to go undercover as college students and locate the supplier of a drug known as "WHYPHY" that killed a student on campus.

’22 Jump Street’ works for exactly the same reasons its predecessor does; the chemistry between it’s leads is great, the script is brilliant and it’s just so bloody funny.

Kudos to Michael Bacall for another script that provides its fair share of laughs (I’d expect nothing less than from a man who had a hand in the screenplay for ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs the World’). It’s fun, it’s snappy, it keeps you entertained, everything you could want in a screenplay.

As with ‘Muppets Most Wanted’, ’22 Jump Street’ sets its stall out pretty early on. With perfect deadpan delivery Nick Offerman tells Schmidt and Jenko how “this department has invested a lot of money to make sure Jump Street keeps going.” From then on the film is stuffed full of thinly veiled references to the nature of sequels, franchises and studio interference.

On paper this looks like it would get dull pretty quickly but it doesn’t as we’re all in on the joke. It might be meta but nothing is ever throw-away or arch; Lord and Miller spend as much care and attention on bringing the in-joke funnies as they do on the charming central relationship.

Although the central draw is the rapport of Hill and Tatum we are treated to some nice supporting performances. Jillian Bell is a new addition to the cast as Schmidt’s love interest’s bitchy roommate, Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt) appears as Zook, Jenko’s new jock friend but it’s the expanded, super-angry role of Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) that really had me giggling.

The glue that binds is the joint strength of Hill and Tatum. Hill builds on a filmography that boasts both critical plaudits and commercial success, his neurotic nice guy shtick is fun throughout. As for Tatum, he is never better than when he is in these movies. Physically he can carry off the action involved in a film like this but crucially, he’s so likable. It’s this than makes me think that ‘Chambit’ isn’t the casting balls up that people initially thought…

It’s not a perfect film, but then neither was it’s predecessor. It’s a touch too long (although I wouldn’t cut the credits sequence for the world) and unfortunately Rob Riggle’s character is still there, albeit in only one scene. I’ve not yet been sold on Rob Riggle’s style, he tends to play the same kind of character in everything and it’s not a character I like very much…

All the way through the film treads the line between low and highbrow, never staying too far into either sphere. The action scenes are fabulously OTT and although ’22 Jump Street’ is treading a lot of the same ground as ’21 Jump Street’ the good-natured knowing humour laced throughout stops the film feeling like it’s predecessor’s left overs and more like a meal in it’s own right.

’22 Jump Street’ has something for all kinds of comedy lovers. If it’s snappy dialogue, childish comedy, in-jokes about the film industry or good old fashioned slapstick that you love, there is something here for you. Lord and Miller are at the top of their game and based on this evidence, no one is going to de-throne them as the Kings of Modern Comedy any time soon.

Right, I fancy some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. Just the one RTBC today :-)
You may or may not know that one of my favourite shows, Community, was cancelled by NBC earlier this year much to my distress. However, at the 11th hour, when all seemed lost, Yahoo Screen (Yahoo’s streaming service) and Sony TV have done a deal for 13 more episodes to be helmed by the show’s creator Dan Harmon. This is enough of a reason to keep me cheerful for the rest of this year but the fact this was announced ON MY BIRTHDAY makes it all the sweeter :-) #SixSeasonsAndAMovie

So that’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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