![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/22-Jump-Street-202x300.jpg\" "\\"22")
<\/p>\nBy Bob Garver<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I only laughed a little at \u201c21 Jump Street\u201d two years ago. It wasn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t like the chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as a pair of bumbling cops undercover at a high school; it was just that for me a lot of the jokes fell flat. There were certainly some exceptions (I still like to pull up the online video of Tatum botching a science formula), but I couldn\u2019t get into the movie overall. \u201c22 Jump Street\u201d has a lot more jokes that land, many of them in a style that I didn\u2019t like last time.<\/p>\n
Officers Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are doing badly as big-boy cops, so they\u2019re sent back to the Jump Street undercover program. Since they\u2019re too old to pass for high schoolers anymore (as if they ever could), they\u2019re sent to college to bust another drug ring. Their wacky adventures include frat parties, car chases, poetry slams, Spring Break, forbidden love and tension in their own relationship. It\u2019s about what you\u2019d expect plot-wise from a movie that combines college, cops and comedy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So what makes this film stronger than its predecessor? For starters, there are a lot more memorable performances in the supporting cast. You can tell from the advertising alone that Jillian Bell is going to be impactful as the disapproving roommate of Schmidt\u2019s girlfriend (Amber Stevens, herself not very impactful). Audiences will be instantly drawn to Keith and Kenny Lucas as a pair of mellow twins who have a chemistry that Schmidt and Jenko try feebly to duplicate. Rob Riggle returns in a cameo where he is allowed to be much funnier than he was in first movie, where he basically played it straight until his final moments. And Ice Cube is back as the duo\u2019s hostile captain. He nails the role, though in fairness he nailed it in the first movie as well.<\/p>\n
The film has a lot of scenes that had me pounding my armrest in delight. These include the aforementioned Riggle cameo and any scene involving Ice Cube. Schmidt engages in an unfortunate college tradition usually reserved for females. Schmidt and Jenko find themselves in a therapy session with a misunderstanding psychologist. The inevitable showdown between Schmidt and the film\u2019s villain is sure to be nominated for Best Fight at the next MTV Movie Awards. But my absolute favorite gag is the world\u2019s most awkward Parents\u2019 Day, followed closely by Jenko\u2019s reaction to the bombshell dropped at the event.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s even a punch-up to the reflexive gags that I loathed so much in the first movie. At the time, I constantly found myself thinking, \u201cWe get it. Movie versions of old TV shows are usually lame. You know what else is lame? Your jokes about how lame they are.\u201d A few of the tongue-in-cheek jokes in this movie are indeed painful (and I wish it wouldn\u2019t take a cheap shot at Tatum\u2019s role in \u201cWhite House Down,\u201d that movie was a lot of fun), but in general I think they work a lot better. The best gags have to do with the future of the franchise, including a surprisingly lengthy sequence that plays over the film\u2019s credits.<\/p>\n
To be sure, \u201c22 Jump Street\u201d is not what you\u2019d call a smart movie. Perhaps it goes to the wells of Schmidt\u2019s awkwardness, Jenko\u2019s stupidity and homoeroticism a bit too often. But then again there a lot of jokes that do work; more than there were in \u201c21 Jump Street.\u201d Also, the film never takes itself too seriously, unlike its predecessor, which devolved into a pretty straight action flick toward the end. If you\u2019re a big fan of dumb, raunchy comedies, \u201c22 Jump Street\u201d will probably make your summer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Three Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201c22 Jump Street\u201d is rated R for language throughout, sexual content, drug material, brief nudity and some violence. Its running time is 112 minutes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n