Sunday, June 15, 2014

Review: 22 Jump Street

113. 22 Jump Street
I'll try to keep this brief since it can be hard to say much beyond generalities in a positive review of a comedy.

I've said it before: comedy is an incredibly subjective genre. What is funny to one person may be unfunny or even offensive to someone else. That being said, there were moments in this film that I found absolutely hilarious. I don't usually laugh much when seeing comedies in the theatre, even if I enjoy them, but this movie got continuous, extended laughter out of me several times. The film is packed with jokes, but not all of them are throwaways. Sometimes, while funny in their own right, they also serve as a setup for another (often funnier) joke a few minutes later. While there are some jokes that are (deliberately) eye-rollingly bad, others are actually quite clever. This is where I find my self restricted to the aforementioned generalities. To say any more about the jokes would be to spoil them to some degree--something I don't want to do.

The plot is serviceable. It exists as a delivery system for the jokes, a concept the film embraces, making frequent jokes about how similar it is to the plot of the previous film. If there is any fault in the film, it is the frequency with which it pokes fun at the shortcomings of movie sequels. These jokes are often amusing, but are rarely the best the film has to offer. One also has to wonder if the filmmakers were trying to use poking fun at the repetitiveness of the plot as an excuse to not mix it up. While it does work here, to a degree, it's the kind of trick that will only work once. If there is another sequel, they will have to come up with something new.

Similarities to its predecessor aside, the film was a blast. I remember being pleasantly surprised by the first film, and my expectations were significantly higher this time around. Those expectations were met and exceeded. This may be the most I've laughed in a movie theatre all year.

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