<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Phil Lord & Chris Miller. Starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, Ice Cube, Amber Stevens, Wyatt Russell, Jillian Bell, Nick Offerman

I have a feeling that America has created this fad for the vulgar, self-deprecating and nonsensical buddy movie. It worked initially for The Hangover films. It even worked for 21 Jump Street, which as they say in this film, wasn’t expected to do that well.

With a bigger budget but not a better script or story, 22 Jump Street is to be liked or disliked completely on the basis of the antics of its protagonists: Jonah Hill as Schmidt and Channing Tatum as Jenko. While they do have some amount of comic chemistry between them, I don’t see any spark of a bromance, which is unfortunate considering the parallel story for 22 Jump Street is the straining of their ‘friendship’. Of course it’s done with the usual gay clichés interwoven.

Sent to college by their boss Captain Dickson played by the over-acting Ice Cube, the two must solve a drug death on campus. There’s very little investigating going on. But Jenko finds a new buddy to be the college jock he never was with and Schmidt finds some lovin’ with a co-ed.

There are some chuckles to be had from the juvenile high jinx the two get into but I really wasn’t in the mood. Neither of these actors is phenomenal in their craft. And the script is so childishly written that you have to wonder if the human race does in fact use even 10 per cent (like they tell us in this week’s other release, Lucy) of their brain. You certainly don’t need any to watch this film.

And surprisingly or unsurprisingly I have nothing else to say for 22 Jump Street.