SINGAPORE — 2012’s 21 Jump Street should have been horrible. Another unnecessary big screen adaptation of a cheesy old television show that everyone felt nostalgic about but was pretty much forgotten. In fact, the movie was initially met with many a groan as to why it had to remade at all.

And then everyone saw what directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who also recently helmed The Lego Movie) did with it — and witnessed the electric on-screen bromance of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum — and the rest was history. It was a massive box office hit thanks to the directors’ insistence on keeping their tongues kept firmly in cheek, and a script constantly ridiculing the very idea of the film.

And it continues on 22 Jump Street. They know the ridiculousness of making a sequel to an adaptation of a TV show and they play that to the hilt.

Like before, Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) go undercover (barely). But they’re now too old for high school so it’s off to college to pull off a drug heist with the best worst Hispanic accents possible.

It would appear that Lord and Miller let their cast have just as much improvised fun as the first time around — but with more frat jokes. This is buddy comedy at its finest, with so many nudge wink moments that will have you choking on popcorn with laughter.

This winning follow-up manages to maintain the self-deprecating and subversive tone of its predecessor (which openly acknowledged the absurdity of remaking the Johnny Depp career-making TV series) by taking aim at the shortcomings of sequels. Knowingly repetitive in a surprisingly inventive way, it willingly embraces the tradition and idea of sequels while simultaneously poking fun at everyone and everything.

(M18, 112 mins)