Synopsis: In 22 Jump Street, After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don’t have to just crack the case – they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.
Release Date: June 13, 2014 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Action, Comedy
Film Review
Production
After the success of 21 Jump Street, a sequel was going to be inevitable. So, the undercover cops have moved across the street to their new digs at 22 Jump Street.
Picking up where 21 Jump Street left off, 22 Jump Street sends Schmidt (This Is The End‘s Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum from Magic Mike) to Metropolitan City State University in an attempt to bust up a drug ring that has been operating on campus. While Jenko falls in line with the jocks and frat boys, Schmidt makes friends with the artists and theater geeks. By infiltrating both cliques, they figure that they can find a way to flush out the dealer.
While working the case, each officer has his own existential crisis; Jenko makes friends with a football star named Zook (Wyatt Russell from Cowboys & Aliens) and thinks that he might want to try out for an athletic scholarship, and Schmidt starts to date an artist named Maya (The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Amber Stevens) for whom he begins to fall. But, first things first, they have a dealer to catch, and the chase takes them all over campus, following up all kinds of ridiculous leads.
Audiences pretty much know what they’re going to get from 22 Jump Street. The film was directed by the same duo who were responsible for the first movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who also made The Lego Movie), and it was written by a small army that included Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall (who also helped write 21 Jump Street as well as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). While it’s not just a simple rehashing of 21 Jump Street, it doesn’t exactly forge new ground, either. It’s nothing deep, just a standard cop movie/modern mystery with enough action to keep an audience interested for a couple of hours. And it’s funny. Extremely funny.
It’s safe to say that the Jump Street movies have become a franchise. They’ll keep making movies as long as people keep going to see them. They’ve got a formula that works, and they even make fun of it in a series of self-deprecating gags that run throughout the movie. Their ability to acknowledge the silliness of their movie is a big part of its charm; they’re laughing along with the audience, and that’s why the audience will keep coming back. In conclusion – everyone should go see 22 Jump Street, if only so they can quote it to their friends the next day, because their friends will probably have seen it. Because it’s funny.
Chemistry
The onscreen chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is undeniable; it’s like watching a couple of best friends goof around with each other. Their comedic timing and theatrical rhythm are impeccable. The pair seems to know each other so well and are so comfortable with each other that every scene becomes its own comedy routine.
Audiences will have to wait and see if Hill and Tatum can become the next Newman and Redford, or the next Lemmon and Matthau, but if the Jump Street movies are any indication, they’re on their way. One thing is for sure; the two look like they’re having a lot of fun together onscreen, and that feeling is communicated in a big way to the audience.
Comedy Factor
First and foremost, 22 Jump Street is a comedy, and it is hysterical. It’s mostly the same type of pedestrian comedy that ran rampant in 21 Jump Street, but if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. The jokes range from physical gags to one-liners, and they are all effective. Hill and Tatum have an Abbott & Costello vibe that never fails to garner laughs, but the rest of the cast is funny, as well. The real scene stealer is Jillian Bell (“Workaholics”), who plays Schmidt’s love interest’s roommate. Her delivery is simultaneously deadpan and confrontational, and her character is the funniest part of any scene that she is in – and she shares a lot of screen time with the comical Jonah Hill.
The entire film kills, from the earliest scene, which is hilariously self-referential in just about every way possible, to the equally meta end credits, which really need to be seen to be believed. For a movie like 22 Jump Street, the biggest compliment that can be said is that it’s funny, and it is. It’s a riot.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): Phil Lord
- Producer(s):
- Screenwriter(s): Michael BacallOren UzielRodney Rothman
- Story:
- Cast: Jonah Hill (Schmidt)Channing Tatum (Jenko)Peter Stormare (The Ghost) Wyatt Russell (Zook)Amber Stevens (Maya)Jillian Bell (Mercedes)Ice Cube (Captain Dickson)Nick Offerman (Deputy Chief Hardy)
- Editor(s): Keith Brachmann
- Cinematographer: Barry Peterson
- Production Designer(s):
- Costume Designer:
- Casting Director(s):
- Music Score: Mark Mothersbaugh
- Music Performed By:
- Country Of Origin: USA