22 Jump Street (2014) - Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

After successfully bringing down a synthetic drug operation by going undercover as high schoolers, Schmidt and Jenko are viewed as assets by their commander officer.  They are tasked to conduct a similar operation as before, go deep undercover at a local college in an effort to bring down the supplier of the latest drug craze.  While undercover, Jenko becomes close friends with members of the football team, creating strain on Jenko and Schmidt's partnership.  This leads to Schmidt and Jenko being not only responsible for solving the case, but also responsible for determining if they can put their differences behind them and be mature partners.  Phil Lord & Christopher Miller's 22 Jump Street is a film that could have so easily suffered from the typical tropes of the comedy sequel, being a rehash of ideas from the first film with more expensive set-pieces.  Fortunately, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are blissfully aware of this, creating a very self-aware film in 22 Jump Street that laughs at its own generic plot while subtly and not-so subtly poking fun at the comedy sequel genre as a whole.  22 Jump Street knows it has the exact same plot as the first film and in the way the film embraces this is what makes it so much fun.  With little focus on the plot of the film, 22 Jump Street is able to focus on the comedy and relationship between our two main protagonists, delivering fresh, unique humor from start to finish.  Being the type of film it is, 22 Jump Street can't really exceed the first film but it's incredibly fun and smart in its own right.  In the end, 22 Jump Street's self-aware comedy and like-able stars, make it one of the best comedy sequels ever made.

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