22 Jump Street (2014) - Lord/Miller's wobbly, vexing, overrated sequel

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The two stars look ridiculous in a veritable sea of spring-break youths on this poster for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's 22 Jump Street

Our odd cop partner heroes of 21 Jump Street (2012) are given a new mission, which is like a copy of their last mission, only this time the drug problem is in a college instead of a high school, and once again they will have to go undercover.

22 Jump Street, which like its successful predecessor is based on the 21 Jump Street (1987-91) TV-series, makes it a meta-joke in itself that its plot is so close to the first film. The film often nearly implodes, because the filmmakers behind it also can't take their concoction seriously and stuff it with meta-jokes and references simply to keep it going.
Much of 22 Jump Street, in particular its editing, music and overall style, seems to have been created by - and for - galling teenagers with ADD. Channing Tatum (Logan Lucky (2017)) has gotten chubbier, and Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) looks more tired than usual. Many of the scenes and jokes fall flat on their asses.
22 Jump Street seems long and a bit awkward. There are still a few fun moments, especially scenes with Jillian Bell (Idiotsitter (2014-17)) who is the funniest part of the film. It also has a funny poster sequence for future Jump Street sequels during the end credits.
22 Jump Street is written by Michael Bacall (Project X (2012)), Oren Uziel (Freaks of Nature (2015)) and Rodney Rothman (Grudge Match (2013)), with Hill contributing story elements, and directed by great directing partners Floridian Phil Lord and Washingtonian Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie (2014), both). The two have wisely moved on to other things after this.

Related posts:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
The Lego Movie (2014) - Glue and near-robotic square-mindedness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite
21 Jump Street (2012) - Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill dish out some loud buddy cop fun
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Hefty-paced fun in 3D food lunacy 
 

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: 84.5 mil. $
Box office: 331.3 mil. $
= Big hit
[22 Jump Street premiered 4 June (New York) and runs 112 minutes. Filming took place in Puerto Rico and Louisiana, including New Orleans, from September - December 2013. The film opened #1 to an excellent 57 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for 5 consecutive weeks (moving to #2-#2-#3-#4) and grossed a huge 191.7 mil. $ (57.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 31.4 mil. $ (9.5 %) and Australia with 21 mil. $ (6.3 %). The gross far exceeds the 201.5 mil. $ the first film made. The film's budget is listed as 50 mil. $ at Box Office Mojo, but a leaked final budget document lists it as the above, - and since an unreported 34.5 mil. $ tax credit seems unlikely, the final budget document's estimation is used here. Another info from the Sony leaks of 2015 concerns the series' further sequel plans, which are a film ('MiB 23'), which is to mix the Men in Black franchise with the Jump Street characters, directed by James Bobin (Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)). With Bobin's latest major flop in mind, it is uncertain whether this strange crossover film will ever materialize. 22 Jump Street is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 22 Jump Street?

21 Jump Street (2012) - Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill dish out some loud buddy cop fun

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The stars of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's 21 Jump Street look misplaced at a high school prom on this poster for the flick

QUICK REVIEW:

The nerd and the popular jock from the same high school meets some years hence in the police academy and later again as rookie cops, as they are sent on an undercover mission to search out the drug source that is supplying a high school.

On the corpse of the original, more or less straight-faced, youth-eschewed cop series (21 Jump Street (1987-91)), here gets erected a self-conscious, energetic raunch comedy with two enthusiastic stars and lots of fun comedians and actors in supporting parts: Talents like Rob Riggle (The Hangover (2009)), Ice Cube (Ride Along (2014)) and Dave Franco (Unfinished Business (2015)), who not only is a real dish, - he can act, too!
The film features prominent amounts of music and yelling, which can be a little intense, but if you're in the mood for it, 21 Jump Street is definitely a successful adaptation, (which I figure is the best word to describe its link to the original show.) It's festive, silly, wild, has a liberal view on drugs, (which won't fall in everyone's favor), plus a car chase with three limos(!). The funniest gag: SPOILER When big car accidents don't result in huge explosions, twice.
21 Jump Street is written by Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)), with star Jonah Hill (The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005), actor) contributing some story, and directed by Phil Lord and Christoper Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), both).

Related review:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie (2014) - Glue and near-robotic square-mindedness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Hefty-paced fun in 3D food lunacy 

Watch the red band trailer for the film here

Cost: 42 mil. $
Box office: 201.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[21 Jump Street took most people by surprise, because it mostly didn't inspire great expectations and turned out to be pretty funny. It opened #1 in North America with a 35 mil. $ first weekend, kicking The Lorax (2012) out of the spot after two weeks there. It grossed 138.4 mil. $ in North America (69 % of the total gross), and a sequel, 22 Jump Street, also by Lord and Miller, was released in 2014. The third film, 23 Jump Street, is now in development.]

What do you think of 21 Jump Street?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Lord and Miller debut with inspired, imaginative children's book adaptation

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year

A hunger-inducing poster for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Flint is an inventor in a little, hopeless island town in the Pacific, which is known only for its sardines. He builds a machine, which makes it rain food, but because it comes to follow the mayor's motto of 'bigger is better', it ends up causing some serious problems.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a loose adaptation of a children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett (Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People (1988)). At its core lies the very funny and imagination-appealing idea of it raining foods, and the film cleverly spins several poignant satirical observations over our greed, over-consumption and stupidity as a species around this premise, without ever becoming preachy or depressing. It is driven along at a high pace that may leave some adults breathless and involves many impressive, outrageous effects. Besides the truly eye-popping animation and really solid material, Cloudy also benefits greatly from a stellar voice cast headed by Bill Hader (Inside Out (2015)) and Anna Farris (Observe and Report (2009)).
It is the feature debut of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who had previously been supervising directors on the animation TV-series Clone High (2002-03) before they got this gig. They have since made it big with their hits, 21 and 22 Jump Street (2012; 2014) and The Lego Movie (2014). They are continuing with both franchises as producers and are launching several other projects at the moment, clearly bent on becoming big-shots in the movie business.

Related posts:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie (2014) - GLue and near-robotic square-mindedness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

A Russian poster for the film

The cover of the children's book that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs adapts shows how little the two products have in common style-wise

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 100 mil. $
Box office: 243 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Part of Sony Pictures Animation's first slate of films, Cloudy's relatively good, although not spectacular hit status was important. A large part of the film's profits undoubtedly stem from secondary products (DVD's and merchandise). It spun a sequel, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), which did even better (274.3 mil. $) on a significantly lower budget (78 mil. $), which is in the range of the studio's animation budgets (9 titles 2006-13, 55-110 mil. $ each).]

What do you think of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?
If you have seen the sequel, how is it?

The Lego Movie (2014) - Glue and near-robotic square-mindeness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite

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The colorful, building-inspired poster for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's The Lego Movie

Our hero here is an utterly ordinary construction Lego-man, who, due to a case of bad luck, gets named 'the special one' who is to save the Lego worlds from the evil President Business and his terrifying Kragle.

 
The Lego Movie is an often funny, unusual family animation adventure comedy. It works as a sense-bombardment with great voice work by among others Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)), Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)), who also appears in the flesh, Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994)) and Liam Neeson (Non-Stop (2014)).
It all builds (no pun intended) on a really good, simple idea; a boy's playing with Lego. The film delights adults and kids alike, blending an original plot with exciting visuals, (the animation was designed to resemble brick-by-brick stop motion and therefore looks pretty unique), satire, cultural references by the boatload and sheer glee.
It is directed by film-making partners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are also behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009), 21 Jump Street (2012) and 22 Jump Street (2014), - and the two are set to produce the coming Lego Movie sequel, which is set for 2017.

Watch a long trailer for the funny movie here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 468.1 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of The Lego Movie?