PLOT: The troopers try to bring down a new drug ring, while Farva’s wildly over-the-top engagement to Thorny’s sister spirals into chaos.
REVIEW: Comedy is subjective. Everyone walks into a theater with a different sense of humor, and what leaves one person doubled over might barely earn a smile from someone else. But when a comedy keeps you laughing throughout its runtime, that should count as a victory. For me, the gang at Broken Lizard has always known how to tickle my funny bone. I find something amusing in every movie in their filmography, including the criminally underrated The Slammin’ Salmon.
It’s hard to believe Super Troopers first entered our lives 25 years ago. I still vividly remember seeing the original on opening night. Admittedly, I may have had a few substances in my system to, as Thorny would put it, “enhance” my senses. Regardless, Broken Lizard’s absurd, juvenile and oddly intelligent humor immediately struck a chord with me. Seeing these characters again is an uncomfortable reminder that time hasn’t only passed for the Vermont State Troopers. It has also passed for those of us who have been laughing with them from the beginning. We may be older, but has our sense of humor actually matured?
Super Troopers 3 is ready to put that question to the test.
The movie finds Farva (Kevin Heffernan) preparing to marry Sarita (Hannah Simone), Thorny’s younger sister. After Farva saves her from an accident, the two fall in love and become engaged, much to Thorny’s horror. Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar) responds with a series of increasingly ridiculous schemes to break them up before the wedding.
Meanwhile, the troopers investigate a powerful new drug called Canadian Crystal, leading them to a pair of suspicious wedding planners who may not have completely left their criminal past behind. The case isn’t especially deep, but it keeps the gang moving from one ridiculous situation to the next.
My biggest concern going into Super Troopers 3 was that it would recycle the original movie’s most famous jokes. That was one of my primary issues with Super Troopers 2. It often felt like it was dangling familiar material in front of the audience while shouting, “Hey, remember this?”
The third movie handles its nostalgia much better.
Sure, we get a “Who wants cream?” There’s another invitation for a mustache ride, and “meow” inevitably makes one appearance. But the movie doesn’t stop and wait for applause every time it references the original. It delivers the callback, and lets fans enjoy it and continues down the highway.
Because of that restraint, Super Troopers 3 feels like a natural continuation rather than another attempt to recreate the original’s greatest hits. Thorny, Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske), Foster (Paul Soter) and Farva are no longer young troopers terrorizing motorists. They’re older men realizing their bodies, relationships and roles have changed, even though their maturity levels remain frozen. This is especially true of Mac, whose efforts to prove he still has the same youthful energy provide some of the movie’s funniest moments. It’s definitely relatable watching him refuse to accept that he’s no longer the young prankster from the first film, even as everything around him says otherwise.
Farva gets more to do this time around, with his wedding becoming the main focus of the story. That could have worn thin, since he usually works best in smaller doses as the loud, obnoxious guy everyone can barely stand. Surprisingly, his relationship with Sarita actually works. He’s still the same walking disaster, but the movie gives us a reason to root for him without turning him into a completely different character. Heffernan commits to everything the movie asks of him, whether Farva is making a complete ass of himself or showing that Sarita genuinely means something to him. There’s still plenty of the Farva we know and love.
Of course, not every gag lands. That’s true with every comedy. A few scenes keep pushing after the joke has run its course, and some moments will play better for longtime fans than newcomers. Still, the jokes hit often enough that the misses never became a major problem for me.
The chemistry between the Broken Lizard members remains the movie’s greatest weapon. These guys have been performing together for decades, and you can feel that history whenever they share a scene. The insults, reactions and little exchanges never feel forced. Even when a joke doesn’t completely land, it’s still fun watching them bounce off one another.
Super Troopers 3 doesn’t reinvent the franchise, nor does it need to. It knows its audience and doesn’t apologize for its crude, childish or occasionally dad-jokey sense of humor. Anyone who has never connected with Broken Lizard’s comedic wavelength probably won’t change their mind here.
But comedy is subjective, and the Broken Lizard gang still makes me laugh.
Super Troopers 3 kept me entertained, repeatedly made me laugh out loud and felt more like a genuine continuation of the original than the nostalgia-heavy second installment. It may not reach the heights of the first Super Troopers, but it’s reassuring to discover that these idiots can still make me feel like the same immature person who watched them on opening night 25 years ago.
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