3 Thoughts on 22 Jump Street

1. Sequels suck - That's the big message here, with Deputy Chief Hardy's (the always brilliant, Nick Offerman) constant reminder "just do the SAME THING again!". In the same way that the Scream franchise piles on meta references about horror films and sequels, 22 Jump Street excels at making fun of its own creation. The biggest reason it works, though, is because it's consistently laugh-out-loud  funny. I enjoyed the first one, maybe not as much as some people, but I remember laughing a lot. However, I think I had much more fun with this sequel. There are a few moments in the movie in which Channing Tatum had me in tears. He is freakin' hilarious (and no, I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon. I was already on the bandwagon before there was a bandwagon). This is one of his best performances yet, because he seemed more confident in his comedic timing. When the movie ended, I wanted to watch it again...immediately (I didn't), and that's the first time that's happened in a looooong time.

2. A series of unfortunate events - I saw this movie on opening day (which is very odd for me), and there were quite a few distracting moments when I thought "oof bad timing". Three very unrelated events happened in the few weeks leading up to the release of this movie: Tracy Morgan was involved in a car crash that killed one person and left him in critical condition, Maya Angelou passed away, and Jonah Hill yelled a homophobic slur at a paparazzi person who was harassing him. So, when a brief impression of Tracy Morgan was used as a joke, it was awkward, but easily shrugged off. Then, after Hill does a hilarious impromptu slam poetry session, he is referred to as "Maya Angelou", I thought "how unfortunate" (although it's repeated several times and it becomes more and more distracting). Then, towards the end, Tatum gives a heartfelt speech on the importance of words, and the pain that can be caused by using homophobic language. Um....can we say....awkkkkwwwarrd.  It wasn't even a short quip, either; it was long and thorough. Definitely unfortunate timing.

3. The "bromance" - As with the first one, the worst part of the movie, for me, is the whole "bromance" bit. It's too sugary sweet and it's so repetitive. It works a little better in the sequel because there is a "third party" that is a threat to the bromance, but it's all just a little too sentimental for me.