MOVIE REVIEW: 22 Jump Street - 'Work Hard? Yes. Play Hard? Yes.'

Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube
Release Date: June 13, 2014

21 Jump Street took 2012's summer by a laughing storm as it was one of the best comedies of the year. In the film, Jonah Hill was 28 and Channing Tatum was 32 but were playing undercover high school students. The ages might be off but with the combination of the chemistry between the two and all the jokes within the film, no one really cared that they were double the age of a high school student. Now the actors are two years older and still playing student roles but this time they are freshmen in college. 21 Jump Street was certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and sequels usually never follow suit. But can these over age "students" pull off another hilarious stint?

Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back to their usual antics, messing up on the job as regular policemen. And just like last time, Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) is tired of it and sends them back undercover. 21 Jump Street has been relocated directly across the street to a bigger and more hi-tech church at 22 Jump Street. Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) gives the undercover cops a similar case as last time: infiltrate the dealers, find the supplier. This time the drug is WhyPhy (Work Hard? Yes. Play Hard? Yes) and instead of going back to high school for a third time, they are going to college.

If there's one thing to take from this film it's that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller believe in the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Lord and Miller give us the same storyline and recycle the jokes with 22 Jump Street. Do I blame them? No. Why? Because the film gives us the same result as the last one, a hilarious piece of work. The film starts off reflecting on what happened in 21 Jump Street, paying homage to its television route. From there it gets straight to an action scene in which the viewer can tell that the film has a bigger budget this time and if it wasn't obvious with the action scene, there are plenty of jokes throughout the film in which they point that out for you.

The storyline might be reused but it gets a tad bit deeper between Schmidt and Jenko. As they arrive at the college, the duo finds themselves hanging with different crowds that the other does not fit in with. Jenko finds himself on the football team and Schmidt hangs with the artsy students. The strain even goes as far as finding our heroes in a therapy session. Their relationship fallout starts off hilarious with the gags thrown into the storyline but by the end it gets worn outs and you start to feel the lengthiness of the film.

Along with the new jokes, Mercedes (Jillian Bell) added hilarious jokes towards Hill's character which makes their fight scene that much more hilarious by the time it arrives. Ice Cube is in the film more frequently than the first film and he kills every scene that he is in. The filmmakers make a hilarious nod towards Tatum's White House Down and reference other films as well in a jokingly matter throughout the film.

As of June 13th, 22 Jump Street is the best comedy of 2014. If you thought 21 Jump Street was hilarious then you must go to theaters to see the sequel being that it is better than its predecessor. Yes you have the same plot ultimately, but the jokes will have you overlook that and you will enjoy the film completely. Make sure you don't leave until the very end as the end credit sequence is just as funny.