Movie Review: "22 Jump Street" (2014)

Movie: "22 Jump Street"
Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

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Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back, and this time, the dynamic duo are headed to college. A new drug called WyFy has been making the rounds at local MC State, and after one of its students died while being on the drug, Schmidt and Jenko must, again, infiltrate the dealer and find the supplier.

Much of the hilarity of this movie comes from the fact that it doesn't shy away from telling audiences that it knows it is repeating the same damn story. The recycled plot line is, itself, a joke. And it's outrageous. And we loved every minute of it. It's one of those "we have an expanded budget, let's see what we can get away with" type of popcorn flicks. It's not anything epic or life-altering, but it makes for one hell of a funny movie. A lot of times, sequels fall waaaay short of the superior first film, but this time, the sequel is just as good as the original movie. Channing Tatum has found his niche playing the "dumb jock" type, and we have grown to like him much more as an actor than when he first started showing up on the big screen. Jonah Hill is back doing what he does best: a sarcastic, loudmouth chuckle-head with sensitive and dickish qualities. Ice Cube's role has been beefed up in this movie, and for the better. He has one of the best scenes in the movie, actually, two of the best scenes in the movie. It seems like the entire cast had a blast making this sequel and it definitely shows in the final product. It's a movie where audiences don't have to think too hard and can take 2 hours out of their day to enjoy themselves. Also, Cate Blanchett: best part of the freaking movie.

I think it's also fun to note that there is something to be said about going to a movie with a good audience. Some audiences suck: you know, the ones where Sally is on her freakin' cell phone texting and tweeting the entire time? Or the one where Hoodie-JoeBob looks uber suspicious and you can't take your eyes off of him long enough to actually enjoy the movie? The audience we "had" during this movie was good, and we didn't feel afraid to laugh. In fact, the guys behind us were laughing so loud, our chuckles seemed minuscule, comparatively. It even lent to my enjoyment of the movie as a whole.

Someone on the Rotten Tomatoes message board said that "60 million dollars worth of you ignorant plebs went to see this movie." Their argument was that since "Edge of Tomorrow" is suffering and this movie has excelled by comparison, somehow, we are to blame. Buddy, if you're reading, take issue with THE REAL PROBLEM. Seth McFarlane. or Adam Sandler. Or Melissa McCarthy. Call us the dumbest of them all, because we enjoyed the hell out of this sequel! If you can take a joke and want to see a very self-aware comedic action movie wrought with goofy entertainment and something you don't need to compare to "The Tree of Life," watch this movie.

My Rating: 8.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 9/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83%
Do we recommend this movie: YES!!!