There wasn’t necessarily reason to attach a lot of expectations to 2012’s 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, but the irreverent and self-referential reboot of the same-named, late-1980s TV series that helped launch the career of Johnny Depp delved into young male anxieties and issues of adolescent-adjacent friendship with considerable aplomb. Its sequel, 22 Jump Street, even more fully embraces and explores masculine relationship dynamics, while also wittily working over like a heavyweight’s speed bag Hollywood’s empty-headed love of franchising. Abundant in charm and loose-limbed energy, it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, possessing everything one wants from a big Hollywood studio action-comedy. For the full, original review, from Paste, click here. (Sony, R, 112 minutes)
