Like its predecessor, 22 Jump Street is hilarious. Not only does it have an assortment of laugh-out-loud gags that could leave anyone in tears, but the overall themes surrounding the film are once again remarkably satirical and beautifully self-aware.

The directors of 22 Jump Street, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, are experts of self-aware themes when it comes to movies. With 21 Jump Street, they suddenly brought a ‘80s crime-drama television show with only brief popularity back from the dead, and it was unexpectedly brought back well. It parodies every aspect of itself, including media portrayals of high school and crime drama. Now, its sequel continues the parody of the original with a slight twist.

22 Jump Street follows the familiar premise of 21 Jump Street, but instead of exploring the cutthroat social hierarchy of high school, now Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) are off to college, experiencing it in all of its stereotypical glory. They are there to track down the dealer of a drug called “WHYPHY” that caused the death of one of the school’s students. But of course, the investigation is not their only challenge.

While attending drunken frat parties and late-night art-scene events, they must learn what their identities are as college students; and much like in 21 Jump Street, they get swept up in the culture of college and find themselves in different cliques.

What redeems 22 Jump Street from being a dud of a sequel is the new satirical angle the film takes. The movie is not only a spoof of college life and the popular notion of it, but it is also a parody of sequels in general. The movie is, after all, a sequel about how bad sequels are, and to quote the movie, it is about how they are “always worse the second time around.”

Any common sequel-pitfalls the film falls into (which are many), it knows, and it makes sure that viewers know that it knows, taking every opportunity to make a joke at its own production before you even get the chance. Though not too overt, it is impressive how effortlessly the film keeps up with this idea, and by the end, I couldn’t help but feel that I had taken the movie more seriously than even the film crew…And I did not take it very seriously at all.

Another interesting satirical aspect of the film is its take on the relationship between Schmidt and Jenko. Jenko becomes friends with Zook (Wyatt Russell), who is a fraternity mogul and a suspect in Schmidt and Jenko’s investigation. With Zook’s help, Jenko becomes a football star and fraternity brother. Jenko and Zook become the dream team at the expense of what seems to be Jenko and Schmidt’s friendship.

The film parallels these friendship dilemmas to the dilemmas of a romantic relationship. It often depicts the two as more than just partners in the police force. Is this a subtle statement against homophobia, a parody of homosexuality itself or neither? I’m not sure, which I must admit, made these scenes a little uncomfortable, especially because of how frequently and obviously the idea was laid out.

Even though their friendship is put to the test, the characters of Jenko and Schmidt are as good as ever in the film. Like Jenko’s football finesse, Tatum makes art out of being an air-headed beefcake, which is an actual compliment. And Hill is just as adroit at talking himself into awkward and uncertain situations as he was in 21 Jump Street. They make for an entertaining pair, no matter how much of a “dream team” Jenko and Zook are portrayed to be in the film.

Overall, Lord and Miller knew exactly what they were doing in using the same premise and ideas as the last film, but this doesn’t change the fact that they used the same premise and ideas as the last film. I enjoyed the movie. However, I could have watched the first film and been just as enthused. The added self-awareness was a bonus, but was it bonus enough to make the film truly worth it?

Its relationship to its predecessor aside, 22 Jump Street is a fun film with genuinely hilarious jokes and a premise that will leave you just as interested as its predecessor, exactly as interested. If you’re looking for a light-hearted film that will have you laughing, I would give 22 Jump Street a shot.