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22 JUMP STREET – Reviewed by David

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I don’t think you’ll ever hear me say this again, but I liked Channing Tatum in this movie. That’s right. In 22 Jump Street, the superior sequel to the 2012 comedy 21 Jump Street (itself a reboot of the ‘80s cop show featuring Johnny Depp), Tatum actually made me laugh. A lot. That’s saying something for a guy who, in my humble opinion, possesses less talent than the head of a pin.

He and co-star Jonah Hill reprise their roles as cops Jenko and Schmidt, who previously went undercover at a high school to thwart a drug ring (we get a brief rehash of this in case you forgot). Here, after failing to catch notorious drug dealer Peter Stormare, they get reassigned to the Jump Street program, led once again by Ice Cube, and go to college to locate the supplier of a new drug.

In calling the film superior, I don’t mean it’s perfect. It runs 112 minutes—too long for a comedy—and by the end you feel it, mainly during the protracted finale in which Hill and Tatum and company chase the bad guys. We also get a surprisingly dull chase sequence involving a football helmet-shaped vehicle, and after a while Hill’s incessant improvising got on my nerves.

Those are my few quibbles. Most of the rest of what returning directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller throw at us works quite well, starting with the clever and hilarious reminders that this is a sequel we’re watching, most of which are made hilarious by the wonderfully deadpan delivery of Nick Offerman as Hill and Tatum’s real-cops superior.

I’m not sure why I found Tatum so funny. Maybe it’s the switch in the dynamic. Last time Hill became the cool guy and Tatum the nerd. Here Tatum finds his place on the football team and forms a bromance with a fellow jock (Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt and Goldie). He seems so natural (read: not wooden) as an athletic meathead that I’m guessing few acting muscles were actually required.

All I know is that his reaction to Ice Cube’s hatred of Hill for sleeping with a certain college student (Amber Stevens) had me in stitches. And that scene takes second place to Ice Cube’s initial reaction to the incident, which includes a rampage in the college cafeteria and text messages. (Hill himself is funniest here when enduring Cube’s withering glare.)

In terms of action, Lord and Miller craft a pretty good (and funny) opening-act sequence in which Hill and Tatum try to stop Stormare while on the big rig in which he’s fleeing, and that’s it. Which is actually fine by action-fan me. Hill and Tatum’s own, amusingly intense bromance propels the movie along more than well enough.

(P.S. – Be sure to stick around for the entertaining end-credits, during which Lord and Miller show us a plethora of potential ideas for future follow-ups, and allow yet another original TV Jump Street star to make a cameo appearance.) – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Comedy/Crime

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 11/18/14


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