These two b**ches went to college!

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2019)

I LOVED this movie. As good or better than the original, which is so rare I can't remember the last time someone achieved that. Obviously, this is silly escapism humor so I think you have to view it in that light, but the movie never aims to be more than goofy laughs with some bromance mixed in.
22 successfully sets up a plot that engages while taking every opportunity to poke fun at itself and multiple movie genres, much like the first one did. It might help if you are familiar with some pop culture, as the movie is filled to bursting with quick little Easter eggs and references that are 'blink and miss it' types.
It also revels in taking movie cliches and flipping them on their head for yuks, like a "fight" scene where Jonah Hill's character Schmidt is intensely uncomfortable when one of the villains repeatedly believes the fight is about to degenerate into a sexy Mr. and Mrs. Smith battle-to-bedroom make out session or when Channing Tatum's Jenko drops his Q-Tip into another guy's meat sandwich and they gleefully declare that they are sharing a "meat-qute," a term for the scene in romantic comedies when the couple to be first meet each other in a cute and humorous way.
The movie never takes itself seriously, constantly making fun of itself, the previous movie, or other works the cast have been in; the last ten minutes of run time are devoted to absurd ideas for the next few hundred incarnations of the series, all but slamming the door on the idea of making any more while still managing to be suspiciously reminiscent of other series that didn't know when to quit.
I was never a fan of the original show, so I watched '21 Jump Street' reluctantly only to be pleasantly surprised at how fresh they managed to make the idea feel. '22' admirably carried on the tradition, building a light hour and a half around the two charismatic leads that didn't overstay its welcome and left me in a good mood.