November DVD Releases: Good News, Bad News
Posted on November 1, 2014 by bob in DVD
22 Jump Street (R) 
As movie origins go, this one’s pretty weird, even for Hollywood. 21 Jump Street was a hip, popular TV crime drama – sort of the 1980’s version of The Mod Squad, for those of us old enough to have grooved on that one in the late ‘60s. A couple of years ago, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum turned the premise into a present-day cop-buddy comedy version, replete with references to the TV series (including a terrific cameo from Johnny Depp, who’d starred in the original). That pairing of the teenaged nerd and jock bonding years later at the police academy for unlikely success on the force earned enough to spawn this sequel. The title change comes from moving headquarters to the opposite side of the eponymous street.
This one ramps up the self-referential ante by flooding us with comments about how similar the stars’ new assignment is to their last one – going undercover as students to nail the one who’s making a new, dangerous designer drug. The first was a high school; this time it’s a college. All the inside joke themes from the first are pounded even harder in this one – the fact that both look too old to fit in; role reversals of which partner was cool then and now; the relative suckiness one usually finds among sequels, despite spending more to make them, etc.
Those who liked the first will probably enjoy this one at least as fully. Hill is a reliable comic talent. Tatum, known more for hunkiness than hilarity, is surprisingly funny. Ice Cube again plays the archetypal ranting captain while simultaneously spoofing his role in a nice bit of juggling. The tone ranges mostly from broad to gross, with the plot’s predictability snarkily converted into an asset. Some of the biggest laughs come during the closing credits in an over-the-top sequence setting the table for a slew of possible future sequels and spin-offs.
Tammy (R)
How can a road comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon turn out so badly? How could a screenplay this lame attract the likes of Kathy Bates, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Sandra Oh and Dan Aykroyd – many of whom wind up with uncommonly small roles? After appearing with McCarthy in the huge hit Bridesmaids, Ben Falcone apparently hit the Peter Principle ceiling (rising to his level of incompetence) by directing and co-writing this script with her. Another cast member, Mark Duplass has not only acted in better films, but actually written a few of them.
McCarthy plays another (eventually lovable) loser, whose delusional level of self-confidence greatly exceeds reality. She wrecks her car on the way to losing her fast-food restaurant job, sending her home early enough to find her hubby canoodling with their neighbor. That spurs a road trip with her drunken, one-time hippie granny (Sarandon), heading for Niagara Falls. What must have seemed like hilarious hijinks on paper wound up forced and unfunny on screen.
McCarthy can be a comedic dynamo with her singular flair for the physical side. She’s shown that in other roles, including brilliant slapstick sketches the first time she hosted Saturday Night Live. Sadly, this feels like one too many trips to the same well, after overly similar leading roles in The Heat and Identity Thief. Very disappointing. Her TV sitcom is a hit; she deserves better career guidance on the movie side.
A Most Wanted Man (R)
This attempt at an espionage thriller, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as one of Germany’s top, yet underrated, covert anti-terrorist operatives offers a complicated, cerebral perspective on Europe’s handling of those threats, hampered by conflicting internal and external priorities and turf wars. Their own bureaucracies compete as much as cooperate; Interpol and other national intelligence services, including ours, muddy the waters even more.
A Chechen Muslim sneaks into Germany, claiming to be the son of a dead Russian honcho who left a whopping estate in one of their banks. The young man may be a terrorist; he may not be who he claims; he may really want his despised father’s money for some noble cause. No one can coordinate a plan for vetting his story that suits all the governmental factions or his lawyer (Rachel McAdams), who is trying to protect him from harm or deportation until this all gets sorted. Confusion abounds among the agencies and principals. The dangerous type.
The pace and tone are truer to their John Le Carre roots than the slam-bang antics of a Jason Bourne. The fact that English-speaking actors with adopted German accents (of varying consistency) are providing most of the dialog wears thin. The tale might have flowed more smoothly with actual Europeans speaking their own language, and subtitles for the rest of us. Thoughtful and suspenseful, triggering thoughts and questions about the reality we’re allowed to know of, compared to the range of gruesome realities likely passing under our radar, but ultimately a bit short on overall entertainment value.
Mark Glass
Mark Glass is an officer and director of the St. Louis Film Critics Association.
