Vicky Sparks
The original Super Troopers movie released in 2001 about a group of idiot, pothead highway patrolmen in Vermont did almost OK at the box office.
Since then, it has gained cult status with a niche audience of stoners. Cut to 17 years later and those stoners have put their money where their chemically altered taste level is and crowd-funded a sequel.
My guess is that even if we set the bar for critical acclaim at “things you might chuckle at when high,” they’ll be asking for their money back.
Super Troopers is brought to us by a comedy troupe called Broken Lizard comprised the five main characters: Mac (Steve Lemme), Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar), Foster (Paul Soter), Farva (Kevin Heffernan) and Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) who write, act in, and, for Jay Chandrasekhar, direct the film.
All 100 minutes feel like a group of drunken frat bros trying to make each other laugh through a series of jokes about farts and male genitalia.
But there is also a plot buried beneath the layers of jokes 11-year-old boys might tell at a sleepover and giggle at uproariously.
Despite 17 years between two films, the sequel picks up just months after the original. The men have been fired from the police force in Vermont after an incident involving a ride-along with actor Fred Savage (if you deign to see the film, stick around after the credits to find out what happened) and are now working construction (I’m convinced they chose construction for the sole purpose of getting to make many unfunny “caulk” jokes).
As luck would have it, it appears that 100 years ago the border between Vermont and Quebec was incorrectly drawn and a small town in Quebec has been American all along.
Now, America has come to reclaim its land and during the transition requires U.S. police officers to patrol the Canadian city.
Don’t think about the plot too hard – it makes no sense and exists only to create the opportunity to deliver a joke about a Canadian stereotype between every fart joke.
Add in a drug-smuggling case that leads one of the men to get hooked on a female version of Viagra only available in Canada, called Flova Scotia, that causes him to lose his sense of direction, begin lactating and become bitchy and you’ve got all you need to know about this film.
Super Troopers 2 is a lazy and sloppy film that gives lowbrow comedy a bad name. Even stoners deserve better.
Vicky Sparks is a Bright’s Grove native and movie critic for Global TV’s The Morning Show, which airs nationally on Fridays. Her Journal Reviews cover movies playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sarnia