Self-Awareness and Funny Chemistry Propel This Sequel

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2014)

What an awful idea for a movie. Take a subpar 80's teen soap opera, reboot it as a comedy movie, and then give it a SEQUEL?! But with directors Lord and Miller ("Lego Movie") and writers Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall, 22JS becomes a self-aware meta-comment on the overstuffed sequel. It's not quite as funny or smooth as the outstanding first film, but the trope send ups, engaging mystery, and good-natured humor propel this to its own heights. 22JS picks up right where the first ends, Ice Cube giving the guys their new undercover assignment, infiltrating a new drug ring, this time at college. There are plenty of jabs at this being exactly the same as the first film, which is where the best parts of the humor reside, in the satire of Hollywood money-making. We have send-ups of college comedies, buddy cop comedies, big-budget franchises, and even rom-coms (with plenty of the gay undertones we often see unintentionally in many buddy action movies). Plus, Lord and Miller are in the Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim) camp of direction, truly using the tools of cinema to create laughs instead of just making the performers do all the work. The fantastic chemistry of Tatum and Hill is enough to see anything they're in, but when given the kind of subversive, smart, and hilarious material they are here, it's a perfect storm. If you haven't seen the first one, see it. Then rush out to see 22JS. And make sure to stay for what may be the greatest end credits of all time.