One of the many big budget blockbusters that have been battling for a share of the box office in recent weeks should have just held off a bit – this week’s underwhelming new releases would have been there for the taking.
First up is 22 Jump Street, the obligatory sequel to the surprise 2012 comedy hit starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.
In the first film, itself based on a long-forgotten US TV series that never crossed the Atlantic, the chalk and cheese cop buddies had to go undercover as high school students to bust a drugs ring.
21 Jump Street provided a few laughs, though nowhere near enough, but crucially made enough money to make the sequel a certainty.
How could they stretch a thin idea a little further? By sending the pair under cover as college students, of course – after all, they are a little bit older this time round.
Co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller may be riding high on the smash hit success of The Lego Movie but they’re not infallible – they also helmed the original movie, and if they decide to inflict 23 Jump Street on us any time soon questions will have to be asked.
At some stage in the future, when Grace Of Monaco turns up on TV on some backwater channel in a less than prime-time slot, it may be worth tuning in for five minutes just to see if the troubled biopic starring Nicole Kidman is as much of a stinker as everyone says.
But there’s certainly no need to part with coin of the realm to consider what critics have roundly condemned as a train wreck of the first order. Well, unless you just can’t believe Tim Roth is Prince Rainier and want to see it with your own eyes...