22 Jump Street (2014)

The unlikely crime-fighting duo of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return for the second hilariously self-aware re-imagining of a 1980s buddy cop show. 21 Jump Street was an unexpected hit amongst the slew of reboots and remakes in the 2010s thanks to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directing team behind arguably the best toy-inspired film ever, The Lego Movie.

They knew they’d hit gold with their comedic formula and basically assured the audience that they’ll stick to it in the first few scenes of 22 Jump Street. In fact, the intention to repeat their success becomes a running joke, as USA Today observed: “This is the ultimate meta movie. The repetition is exactly the point.”

This formula was certainly fresh in the first entry and they had enough great ideas and comedic chemistry between Tatum and Hill left over to fill a sequel with one-liners and cringey cop incompetence. Where 21 Jump Street saw officers Schmidt and Jenko going undercover in high school to expose a drug dealing syndicate here they repeat the mission mantra (“infiltrate the dealers, find the supplier”) but as college roommates.

The Los Angeles Times said that the movie’s “spoof of its predecessor’s riff on the original 1980s-era buddy-cop TV show coalesces into a raucous, raunchy, irreverent, imperfect riot.”