5 Great Comedy Sequels
First looks of Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell’s reunion at Good Burger have arrived, and the internet is already buzzing about the quality of the imminent sequel. Will Dexter and Ed still be able to serve up charm and laughter after a 26-year absence? Or will Good Burger 2 be just another tired nostalgia play that flops?
We won’t have those answers until November when Good Burger 2 debuts on Paramount+. That said, while plenty of comedy sequels are indeed very bad — we’re looking at you Son of the Mask — a number of them are actually pretty decent. Here are five in particular that hold their own…
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
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Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin is back for a bumbling good time as are the absurd puns and insane gags in the second installment of the Naked Gun trilogy. Although critics and fans alike agree that it’s not nearly as inventive as the original, it does stake a claim at having what might be the greatest sex scene committed to celluloid.
Addams Family Values
Well before Jenna Ortega took on the braided black pigtails, the most memorable portrayal of the death-obsessed Wednesday Addams came from a young Christina Ricci. Re-joined by the rest of the family, including Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, Addams Family Values found delight in a darker tone and meddled with the macabre. It also boasts a memorable outing from Joan Cusack playing arguably one of the funniest villains of all time — a hilarious, gold-digging serial killer with the Addams inheritance in her sights.
22 Jump Street
22 Jump Street is a sequel that knows it’s a sequel, letting the audience in on the joke. By knowingly embracing predictability, it’s able to subvert the ways most blockbuster sequels are incredibly paint-by-numbers. Better yet, the meta nature of the script sets the stage for Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill to let their remarkable chemistry and comedic timing flourish again.
Shrek 2
The Godfather Part II of animated movies, Shrek 2 is a lean, green comedy machine. The sequel capitalizes on what made the original movie so charming, expanding on the chemistry of its three leads (Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz) and providing even more nuance in the process. The cherry-on-top is two larger-than-life villains who are more exciting than Lord Farquaad and his bob and bolster the story rather than detract from it.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The only thing ugly about the Gremlins sequel is the new batch of little freaks. Joe Dante’s masterpiece is filled with wall-to-wall gags that embrace the campy nature of a B-picture and an oddly prescient parody of Donald Trump that’s even funnier now than it was when it was originally released in 1990.
