Excluding all of the various pieces of counter-programming, the summer season in Hollywood is really about three major things: blockbuster action spectacles, family movies, and R-rated comedies. This weekend we will see our first example of the third category hit theaters, as Nick Stoller's Neighbors will be rolling out, but there are still a few more big ones coming down the pike, including 22 Jump Street. We've already seen a few trailers for the Phil Lord and Chris Miller-directed film, but now the first TV spot has been unveiled.
Picking up where 21 Jump Street left off, the sequel begins as Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are sent undercover to a local college where they must yet again stop the spread of a dangerous new drug (in itself a meta commentary on how studios want studios just want sequels to be the same thing as the original but bigger). Unfortunately, this new mission seriously tests the relationship between the two partners as they are drawn to do very different cliques. Ice Cube, Nick Offerman, Dave Franco, and Rob Riggle all return to play their roles from the first movie, while newcomers to the cast include Peter Stormare, Amber Stevens, Wyatt Russell, Jillian Bell and Jimmy Tatro.
22 Jump Street's release date is very much looming, as Sony has the movie scheduled to come out in just a little over a month, but I'm really hoping that the studio doesn't over-do it on the advertising. Revealing too many of the best moments in trailers has a tendency to hurt comedies particularly badly, as the funniest moments have grown stale with exposure. Sony has done a good job promoting the film so far, releasing a big trailer or clip every couple of months now, and that strategy has been successful in getting us to the exact right level of excitement. Knowing Phil Lord and Chris Miller, we don't expect the film will be short on hilarious moments, but we'd much rather see them up on the big screen than on our computer monitors.
As you might have read about, 22 Jump Street is one of our most anticipated films of the summer, and not just because the original was great or because Lord and Miller blew our minds earlier this year with The LEGO Movie. But how do you feel about it? Are you as excited as we are, or do you need more convincing? Answer our poll below.
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