22 Jump Street

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

2014. Rated R, 112 minutes.

Cast:

Jonah Hill

Channing Tatum

Ice Cube

Peter Stormare

Amber Stevens

Jillian Bell

Wyatt Russell

Nick Offerman

The Lucas Brothers

Jimmy Tatro

Patton Oswalt

Rob Riggle

Dave Franco

Queen Latifah

Way way back in the 1990s, I watched a Wes Craven directed slasher flick called Scream. It was so astoundingly self-aware while at the same time being really good at the stuff it was lampooning that it immediately became my all-time favorite movie from the genre. It wasn't the first such movie, but it did help in usher in the era of meta movie-making of which I'm a big fan. To this day, I laugh much more easily at movies in which the characters clearly understand that they are in a movie, or are at least aware of the trappings of the genre in which they're operating. This brings me to 22 Jump Street. The sequel to the surprisingly good 21 Jump Street takes delight in letting you know exactly what it's doing and still making you laugh at it.

Right off the bat, the movie lets us in on the fact that it knows its a sequel and makes no bones about the possibility of a third movie in the franchise as 23 Jump Street is openly discussed by our heroes. From there, we get the plot delivered by Ice Cube, returning as Captain Dickson. He's sending our heroes to college to pose as students in order to find the dealer of a new and dangerous drug. He then proceeds to tell his officers, and us of course, that it's the "exact same case as last time." And off we go on our adventure. In case you didn't know, our college hopefuls are played by Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill who will pose as brothers. Along the way, they'll try to fit in by joining a frat, the football team, attending a poetry slam, and hooking up with girls. Ya know, the usual.

Greatly aiding the material is the out-of-this-world chemistry between the stars. Through both of the Jump Street movies they have proven to be a perfect comic duo. They complement each other wonderfully. Just as important, they each know when it's the other guy's turn to carry things by themselves. As a result, each gets a number of turns being the funniest guy in the movie. This is of great benefit to the overall product. Tatum, in particular, continues to surprise with his comedic chops. It feels like a more natural performance than I'm used to seeing from him. He appears to be comfortable just being and having fun rather than "acting" and trying to project a persona. For his part, Hill continues the run of excellence he's been on since Moneyball.

Two other performers also shine brightly, One is Ice Cube, doing his best work in years. He's funnier than he's ever been. This includes his comedic heyday back when he was making the Friday movies. During those films he was essentially the straight man to Chris Tucker and then Mike Epps. Here, he gets to cut loose and provide a steady stream of laughs. The other is Jillian Bell as Mercedes. Her deadpan delivery of a seemingly endless stream of old jokes is flat out hilarious. Mean spirited? Yes, but I still laughed.

Laughter is the key ingredient of this movie. The story is clearly second fiddle to all the gags. There are plot holes, convenient occurrences. and of course, they told us at the beginning it was the exact same case as last time. This movie doesn't even pretend to be re-inventing the wheel. That lack of pretentiousness makes it all work. Things I would normally shred a movie for are given a pass because I know that the movie knows it's stupid. It practically screams at us right from the beginning, "If you liked 21 Jump Street, you'll like this!" In all honesty, it's probably right.