How did they make this work? A sequel that is even funnier than the original, which had no business being that funny in the first place.
The movie starts off so self-aware that I did not think they could possibly maintain the joke throughout, but they found a way. It gets silly and juvenile at times, but it does not rely on fart jokes. There are an incredible number of little winks and sly jokes:
“What’s that tattoo on your arm?”
“My high school mascot. We were the Plainview Red Herrings”
Funny stuff. The litany of proposed sequels at the end was the topper. I am looking forward to Jump Street Generations.
Almost forgot one of the coolest things was seeing Sterling Archer himself, H. Jon Benjamin, have a cameo as the football coach. It was one of those, “hey, I know that guy, but from where?” moments.
I didn’t necessarily think it was funnier than the first one, but Nick Offerman’s comment was pretty spot on: “Do the same thing as last time. Everyone’s happy.”
Jillian Bell was my favourite new character by far. And I agree that the montage at the end was the best part.
The first movie was a surprise because I am not a fan of either Jonah Hill or Channing Tatum and never really cared for the TV series it is spoofing. I found it surprisingly funny, largely because it did not take itself seriously at all.
The second one, though, not only did not take itself seriously, it just dialed up the satire to 11. The two directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also made The Lego Movie which had a similar goofiness to it and was also a far better movie than you would expect from the premise.
Perhaps the hardest I laughed at a movie theater this past year was the scene when Channing Tatum realizes that Jonah Hill’s girlfriend is Ice Cube’s daughter (and that Ice Cube had been celebrating congratulating the one night stand before realizing who the girl was). Channing Tatum’s explosive out burst of laughing, taunting, cheering, and running circles around the office had me in pain from laughing so hard.
Agreed it was a great movie. The first one was good, but the sequel was great, and that was definitely unexpected. I think the chemistry between Hill and Tatum just worked really well and a part of me really felt the bromance conflict in a genuine way. It’s not a dumb comedy, it’s an* irreverent* comedy. It knows it is based on a bullshit premise and rather than pandering to the audience that would swallow the bullshit premise, it winks at those of us who know better.
I found myself laughing way more than expected at this movie. I loved the ending sequence of schools. And all of the meta jokes I caught, like walking into the sergeant’s (Ice Cube’s) glass office saying “It looks like a cube of ice…”
