Review of 22 Jump Street (2014) by Jacob — 18 Sep 2014

While it may not be as good as the first one 22 Jump Street is still a good movie. A lot of the humor works and a fair amount of the film feels fresh. With all that said the film isn’t a masterpiece either.

The humor feels a bit more eager/desperate to please this time around, the film is more frantic with pacing, and despite all its jokes about unoriginal sequels this film does have a fair amount of rehashing.

But the main reason why this film isn’t as good as the first one is it lacks the heart the first one did. All heartfelt moments feel forced and generic and the chemistry between Hill and Tatum isn’t quite as strong as it was in the first film being more mean-spirited this time involving a somewhat generic argument cliché.

Despite all those issues though I enjoyed the film. The saving grace of this film is that most of the jokes work really well preventing it from being a letdown and somewhat disguising the fact that this is a cashgrab.

Its miles ahead of the Hangover sequels and is not the disappointment I thought it would be. If you are a fan of the first one definitely check it out as you’ll probably enjoy it just don’t expect a great sequel.

If you didn’t like the first one this one won’t do anything to change your mind. For a film that didn’t needed to exist, and was probably ordered by Hollywood, Chris Miller and Phil Lord stepped up to the plate to deliver a film that may not blow you away or have the same lasting appeal as the first one but is still enjoyable and provides a lot of laughs.

To the guys who made the Hangover sequels, take notes this is how you do a good comedy sequel.