22 Jump Street, the sequel to 2012’s 21 Jump Street, features a nearly identical plot arc as the first and returns Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as undercover cops Jenko and Schmidt.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 22 Jump Street has Jenko and Schmidt tasked with going undercover at a college, where they’re to track down a new drug that’s making its way through campus. While trying to do their jobs, the guys’ bromance hits a rough patch when Jenko befriends a jock with whom he achieves a fast rapport. Jealousy and subsequent hilarity ensue as meta-comedy serves as the film’s backbone.

'22 Jump Street' Reviews

For the most part, critics have praised Lord and Miller for their irony-laden sequel, which doesn’t take itself seriously for a second. Though the sarcasm wore on some, 22 Jump Streets' stars have won praise across the board for their dedication to the outrageousness of the film.

“One of the great things about 22 Jump Street, which does for sequels what the previous film did for big-screen TV adaptations, is that it incorporates all its fourth-wall jokes and references into an actual plot. Here is a crazy, goofy comedy that builds in laughs and excitement as it goes along. Lord and Miller aren’t just getting better at comedy: They’re getting better at pure action, too. 22 Jump Street delivers on both counts, and the effect is exhilarating (even the end credits are hilarious).” Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

“The police chief lays out the latest mission for his undercover cops – pretend to be students, and bust the pushers selling the latest designer drugs on campus. Just like last time, they ask. Just like last time, he says. And that's mildly amusing — along with a few other nudge-nudge gags about how now they've got so much money in the budget, they're wasting it on things you can't even see, or that everything is always worse the second time around. Except at what point is sarcasm just a cheap substitute for wit? Exactly when does joking about how all sequels are just lame, repetitive cash-grabs start to suggest that maybe yours is. too? Actually, in this case, about 40 minutes in.” – Stephen Whitty, The Star Ledger

“22 Jump Street is a monument to mocking, a master class in dissing, a parody of pastiche, poking its R-rated finger at social conventions, sequels, stereotypes, football, frats, friends, drugs, sex — even its stars.In fact, it is impossible to exaggerate how magnanimous its comic malfeasance is. This sequel's spoof of its predecessor's riff on the original 1980s-era buddy-cop TV show coalesces into a raucous, raunchy, irreverent, imperfect riot.” – Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

“Even when 22 Jump Street shifts to a pro forma chase scene in its final moments, the level of invention stays high, and an end-credits sequence that imagines where things might go from here is a brilliant put-down of Hollywood group think (and our own catering to it) and a miniature comedy masterpiece in its own right. This is the kind of movie that knows the manly hero has to yell something cool when he throws the grenade. Lord and Miller simultaneously give us the pleasures of the text and the meta-text, and stupid has rarely seemed so smart. – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

22 Jump Street is currently in wide release.

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