I’m going to go ahead and say Super Troopers is without a doubt one of my favorite comedies of all time. Sure I know many will disagree with me, and that’s fine. Since I first saw their film back in 2002 when I got the DVD I was always excited to see what would come next from the Broken Lizard comedy troop. There was Club Dread which induced a few chuckles as they tackled the slasher genre, and then they had Beerfest which was pretty funny but simply didn’t hold up to their performances as Vermont’s Highway Patrolmen. The antics from the first film are simply classic to me, and the film is something I manage to quote from on a weekly basis amongst friends and when I hear that someone has managed to go all these years without experiencing the film it’s something I feel the need to remedy immediately. It’s more than just a simple stoner comedy and with rumblings about a sequel has been going on for years but things seemed to always fall apart, now after all these years it’s finally happened.
Incase you were wondering just because the film releases on 4/20 this isn’t a movie that requires you to smoke the green dragon to enjoy, the Broken Lizard gang just knows their audience and simply wanted to be part of the joke. For those that saw the first film and couldn’t stand it, well there’s no sense in even bothering to check out this entry. As for those who have managed to miss the first one, please check out the first before going in so you can enjoy the film for everything it has to offer.
The film kicks off with a dream sequence that re-introduces us to the gang, while it was nice seeing the gang back this sequence did have me worried that perhaps the guys just didn’t have it anymore. Thankfully everything else that follows is more in line with what I had hoped for. Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar), Mac (Steve Lemme), Foster (Paul Soter), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) and of course Farva (Kevin Heffernan) all return but when we meet them they are no longer on the force to an unfortunate accident they had with a celebrity ride-along. The gang is getting together for a fishing trip that will take them across the Canadian border where they are hit with the surprise that they’ll have an opportunity to get their jobs back. They are recruited to help in the transition of a French-Canadian town that is being made a part of the US. Rob Lowe plays the part of a former hockey legend that becomes the mayor of the small town who wants to aide as best he can in the transition. But the bread and butter of the film is the rivalry that occurs between The Mounties and the Troopers.
One of the films funnier moments comes when the Troopers discover a box filled with packages of unmarked pills. As each of the guys takes a pill they each are affected in different and amusing ways. The pills lead them eventually to discovering there is more going on in this French-Canadian town than meets the eye.
Brian Cox returns as the curmudgeon police captain who seems to be having a good time once again cutting up with the Broken Lizard gang. Seeing the entire ensemble working together is fun but it does at times make you wish this was a sequel that happened a decade sooner. For those that were perhaps looking for a stronger story for the sequel, I’m sorry but there really isn’t much of one and we really don’t get to see much development with the characters after all these years, but is that a bad thing? Personally I would hate to have seen a more professional/ mature version of these characters its part of the charm of them. If a third film came along and we see them having to train some rookies then perhaps seeing them evolve could be a route to go, but right now I don’t believe that’s what the fans wanted this time around. The jokes are timely, poking fun at the “Make America great” movement, while also simply being a good old-fashioned slap-stick comedy in the vein of Police Academy if the Three Stooges were its recruits.
At the end of the day the sequel is a success and when it comes to DVD and Netflix I’m sure it’s going to have some high (no pun intended…okay maybe slightly intended) replay value but it’s not enough to outshine the first film. The chemistry with these guys is something that manages to shine through and has me looking forward to seeing them again. Perhaps with a big enough box office opening it will be enough to get these guys back with a bigger film, after all a sequel to Beerfest has been in the works for some time now.
