22 JUMP STREET

22 Jump street is the 2014 sequel to the 2012 hit comedy 21 Jump Street. Like it's predecessor, the film stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum reprising their roles from the first installment as Schmidt and Genko, police officers going undercover, this time at a university. Their bromance is tested when they bond with different social groups, and Genko is selected for the football team. The film revolves around a new drug which has caused a death at a college, the duo must infiltrate the college and unwravel the mystery of who is dealing this drug.

The film has a whole sense of irony, characters remark on how pointless sequels are, how the office looks basically like the first film, but a lot more expensive, how the film has essentially the same plot as the first film and how sequels are never as good as their predecessors. The film also mentions budgets and chase scenes in which cars seem to deliberately hit every obstacle, despite it looking cool. This mix of lowbrow humor and inside jokes make 22 Jump Street something of a rarity in today's film market, a genuinely funny comedy, a film which genuinely makes it's audience laugh out loud.

I read an article about the "meta-homophobia" of 22 Jump Street, and intuition would tell me that i am supposed to dislike this film, that i should find it offensive and repulsive, however 22 Jump Street is like a wet, lumbering puppy, it's ridiculously loveable despite it's obvious flaws, this is a film that never tries to outsmart it's audience and is so content with recycling old material that it's impossibly not to give it credit for guts. 22 Jump Street is content to sit within it's limits and succeed, rather than trying to do something bigger or risking alienating it's fanbase.

Something i would normally not talk about here but which cannot be overlooked is the credits sequence, i would pay the price of admission just to see the credits, a long series of montages feature the partners in possible sequels such as 23 Jump Street: Art School, Culinary School or even Mime School, 2121 Jump Street is a sci-fi version set in outer space and on sequel sees Jonah Hill replaced with Seth Rogen due to a contract dispute, the movie is also seen to have created a franchise of toys and action figures. This is all part of a larger critique of the culture of franchise films and sequels of which this movie, ironically, is part.

The fact that this movie is funny would have been enough for me to rate this film highly, but in addition to this, the film has a real emotional core, and an ironic statement about the film industry. Rating: A-

Captain Dickson: We Jump Street, and we 'bout to jump in yo ass.