22 Jump Street (2014)
Certified: 15
Duration: 112 minutes
Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, Ice Cube, Amber Stevens, Wyatt Russell, Jillian Bell, Nick Offerman, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Marc Evan Jackson
KRS release

21 Jump Street was released in 2012 to resounding box-office takings of over $200 million. Its follow-up, 22 Jump Street, is also based on the 1987 TV series and is actually better than the first film. This is mostly because the bro-romance buddy chemistry shown by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum works even more than in the first film and the movie is bigger and sillier.

Police officers Schmidt and Jenko (Hill and # Tatum) are this time around heading to college on a new mission. When the two let a bad guy called Ghost (Peter Stormare) escape, they are knee-deep in trouble. So they are once again placed on the Jump Street beat under the command of Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) and, once again, they have to go undercover to find the truth about a drug-trafficking racket at a university.

Things end up a bit complicated when Jenko becomes bosom buddies with Zook (Wyatt Russell), who heads one of the top fraternity houses, while Schmidt falls hopelessly in love with Maya (Amber Stevens), an art mayor who is a bit out of reach.

Under the team-up of co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 22 Jump Street is based around the basic two essences of a sequel: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and “what worked the first time will work even more the second time if you simply amplify it!”

With a bigger budget in hand, the lampooning of such Hollywood classics as Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon is obvious and very much welcome.

This is a movie that, like a well-worn sock, fits snugly back like a long-lost friend.