The Best Comedy Sequel Of All Time Is Now On Netflix
Comedy is hard, and making a sequel to a beloved comedy movie is even harder, as for every Ghostbusters 2, there’s a Caddyshack 2 or a Son of the Mask. That makes what 22 Jump Street accomplished even more impressive, as it’s a sequel to a surprise hit comedy that makes fun of the fact it’s a sequel before closing on one of the greatest gags. The meta-comedy sequel is now on Netflix, and there’s never a bad time to watch it for the first or hundredth time.
Back To Do It Again
Bringing back Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as Officers Schmidt and Jenko, this time, they get to go undercover at a college to find the source of a dangerous new street drug. To do so, they try to blend in among the students, joining campus groups, rushing a frat, and even going on Spring Break. If the plot of 22 Jump Street sounds suspiciously like 21 Jump Street, that’s the point.
Builds Off The First One
The returning Ice Cube even says, “Just do what you did last time. To emphasize this, there are more jokes about Tatum being a little old to be a college student, and they try to solve the mystery of the drug-dealing college student the same way they did the mystery of the drug-dealing high school student. Amazingly, 22 Jump Street builds off the joke of a cash-grab sequel so well that it transcends the original.
Beats The Comedy Sequel Curse
Most comedy sequels, like say, The Hangover 2, will reuse the same jokes and plot beats again without calling it out. That makes for a boring, predictable movie with no surprise punchlines, which 22 Jump Street manages to avoid by first being in on the joke and, secondly, bringing in a fun new plot point involving Hill’s Schmidt. Laughing and winking about the plot similar to the first film while still bringing in new gags and angles is incredibly impressive, and it is why the sequel outshined the original.
Filled With Stars
It helps that the cast of 22 Jump Street is stacked with talent, including Nick Offerman, Peter Stormare, Jillian Bell, and a young Wyatt Russell. There are cameos again this time out, not to the level of the original 21 Jump Street television stars, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise returning, but keep an eye out for Patton Oswalt, Anna Faris, Seth Rogen, Queen Latifah, and H. Jon Benjamin. Behind the camera, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing again, and they had a very busy 2014 as The LEGO Movie came out the same year, cementing their reputation as mad comic geniuses.
Both Movies Are Now On Netflix
REVIEW SCORE
22 Jump Street made over $300 million at the box office, one of the last comedies to make that much, as today, you can’t find a great comedy movie anywhere. I still wish the proposed third film, in which Hill and Tatum join the Men in Black, happened because it sounded amazing. Alas, we’re left with only two of the best comedy films of all time.
21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street are both now streaming on Netflix.
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