Hill and Tatum, Again

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are back for 22 Jump Street, which sends them undercover at a college this time instead of a high school. As if changing the setting is the only innovation required.

They have chemistry. Tatum is a massive guy with almost no instinct for irony—his blank delivery is half the joke—and Hill is all nervous energy and verbal tics, and the contrast just works. They commit fully to whatever the script gives them.

With buddy comedies, the plot barely matters. You’re there because two people on screen make each other funnier, and you want to watch that happen. The script is just the excuse to get them in rooms together.

The premise is recycled from the first movie—undercover cops, romance plots, partners learning to trust each other. Same setup, different location. The studio didn’t make this because of a brilliant idea. They made it because the first one made money. And that’s fine. That’s how this works.

I’ll watch it when it comes out. Hill and Tatum together is enough.