SYNOPSIS: After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don't have to just crack the case - they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them. 

REVIEW: Arguably, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, 2012 and The Lego Movie, 2014) are proving to be two of the more Ingenious and imaginative filmmakers working in Hollywood at the moment. Basically, they make it possible for this sequel to live up to its predecessor, in spectacular style. They are back with Jonah Hill’s Schmidt character and Channing Tatum’s Jenko character, whom previously went undercover through high school, posing as students much younger than themselves and resulting in uncovering a major drug ring. This time around, they are pulled back in by Ice Cube’s intensely angry Captain Dickson character to pull off pretty much the same exact investigation, by the same exact means, and, by proxy, act out the same exact plot as the original.

Now here's the problem with that…On one hand a sequel is a tricky balancing act with fans and the bigwigs wanting something fresh and different. On the other hand, if they stray too far from the established blueprint (from which warranted funding for part two) then both parties will turn against it with a sense of scorn. As a result, Filmmakers tend to play it safe, delivering (more often than not) a higher-budgeted, but lightly disguised revision of the first film (Hangover sequel comes to mind). Rarely is either party completely happy about it, hence, the tendency for most to have a skeptical approach to viewing a sequel to a hit show.

Fear not though, this latest release is the rare sequel that lives up to its predecessor and in an age where the conveyor belts of Seth McFarlane and Adam Sandler continually spew out the lowest-common-denominator types of movies posing as comedies, the team (the directors and leads) behind 22 Jump Street (one of the best comedy sequels in recent memory), should be absolutely proud of themselves for championing genuine wit, and comic creativity that not only equals, but supersedes it’s forerunner. 

In contrast, I would have to point out something that took away from the ‘coolness’ of this flick; it has to be the manner in which they played up the whole “bromance” thing, between the lead characters. I felt that this was very much over-done and teetered on the brink of ruining the movie. Luckily, somehow the comedy element throughout the 112 minute runtime was able to overpower the simpleminded-ness of the constant barrage of “bromance” filled scenes.

Nevertheless though, this flick does represent some sorta breakthrough in comic writing, editing, and acting, and as a result, exemplifies something very rare these days; creative thinking in the comedy-sequel arena. This is by far the best comedy of the year to date and I believe that it is well-worth the theater visit with four out of five stars being well-deserved here.

MORE MOVIE REVIEWS >>>