You know how sometimes you'll hope and
pray for something, and then it doesn't turn out as well as you
expected? Well, this is not one of those times. The sequel to
2001's genius comedy “Super Troopers” is every bit the sequel we
fans would hope for. After 17 years, it's the sequel we deserve.
(This is literally true, as it
was a 2015 crowdfunding campaign that provided the seed money to make
the movie happen. Fourteen years after the original “Super
Troopers,” devoted fans ponied up more than $4 million to bring
these characters back.)
“Super
Troopers 2” picks up an unspecified period of time after the events
of the first movie. Thorny, Rabbit, Mac, Foster, and Farva are
working construction, having lost their cop gigs following a tragic
incident on a ride-along with actor Fred Savage, a ride-along that
they never should have done, because, “Actors shouldn't play cops
anyway. They always get it wrong.”
The guys jump at a
chance to be cops again, in a tiny sliver of Canada that is getting
annexed into Vermont. Needless to say, the Canadians there are less
than thrilled to be becoming Americans. They don't buy into the
“We're all Americans...North Americans!” theory. The locals, the
mayor (Rob Lowe) and the existing Canadian Mounties give the super
troopers a hard time, but the guys fight back with shenanigans of
their own. Meanwhile, they discover stashes of drugs, guns, and fake
iphones along the border.
Maybe you are
thinking this sounds pretty similar to the plot of the first “Super
Troopers”? You'd be right. It's almost the same movie, which is
exactly what I wanted in a “Super Troopers” sequel. That movie
was perfect: raunchy, irreverent, poking lighthearted fun at pretty
much everyone. “Super Troopers 2” revisits everything that made
the original so great, and I loved every minute of it. The movie is
loaded with back-and-forth Canadian/American insults, riffs on
French-Canadians, and dick jokes, lots of dick jokes.
“Super Troopers
2,” the original “Super Troopers,” and a handful of other films
including 2006's "Beerfest" star the Broken Lizard comedy team:
Jay Chandrasekhar (Thorny), Kevin Heffernan (Farva), Steve Lemme
(Mac), Eric Stolhanske (Rabbit), and Paul Soter (Foster). These guys
don't always knock it out of the park. 2004's “Club Dread” was
pretty lame, and 2009's “The Slammin' Salmon” was just alright.
When they are on, though, these guys produce a brand of intelligently
coarse comedy that allows smart people to laugh uproariously at
bathroom humor. It's hard for me to explain why it works, but it
does. I laughed 'til I cried at jokes about ball-shaving and anal
sex, and never felt bad about it.
Admittedly, “Super
Troopers 2” is not for everyone. If you didn't think the first
movie was an instant classic, you will hate this one, too. For all
of us civilized people, the 2018 Oscars race is already over. “Super
Troopers 2” wins! You should drive as fast as you can to the
theater to see this one. Just watch out for the cops!
5 stars out of 5
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