SUPER TROOPERS 3: 1 ½ STARS. “slides by with dated content.”
SYNOPSIS: In “Super Trooper 3,” a new comedy from the Broken Lizard comedy team now playing in theaters, Vermont State Police’s Senior Trooper Arcot “Thorny” Ramathorn must deal with changing times as new drugs threaten his territory, electric cars replace his gas guzzling patrol vehicles and his younger sister makes plans to marry an obnoxious co-worker. “Is it possible we’re no longer the cool guys in our own story?”
CAST: Jay Chandrasekhar, Broken Lizard, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske. Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar.
REVIEW: Apparently the eight gap between “Super Troopers 2” and the new instalment was not spent coming up with new comedic ideas. Rambunctious and vulgar, the new movie feels like it is squeezing the last drops of juice from a desiccated lemon.
A sequel to the 2018 film “Super Troopers 2,” the new film sees obnoxious and arrogant police radio operator Farva (Kevin Heffernan) engaged to Sarita (Hannah Simone), sister of Vermont State Police Second-in-command Thorny Ramathorn (Jay Chandrasekhar). “Hey Thorny! We’re super excited for your hot sister’s wedding to Rod Farva!”
As plans for the ceremony spiral out of control Thorny becomes determined to put an end to the nuptials while at the same time stopping a nasty new drug called Canadian Crystal (“What does it do,” asks Thjorny, “make you boring and apologetic?”) from being sold in his jurisdiction.
Fans of Broken Lizard’s brand of absurd, gross out comedy will find more of the same in “Super Troopers 3.” Their films, like this franchise, “Beerfest,” the slapstick slasher “Club Dread” and the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” spoof “Quasi,” mine an anything goes style that’s consistently rude and crude, and, in “Super Troopers 3” case, only occasionally laugh worthy.
A collection of scenes in search of a story, the overlong film is a bit of fun when Brian Cox, as Captain John O’Hagen, retired but refusing to leave the station, is allowed to go off lash and elevate cantankerousness to new heights. Also funny is prankster Mac Womack’s (Steve Lemme) quest to jump over Duck Neck Creek and a self-driving/talking EV that speaks with a Canadian accent. “You’re not even a car,” Mac yells at the EV, “you’re a toy that needs to be plugged in!”
But mostly Chandrasekhar, who stars, directs and co-wrote the script with thew other four Broken Lizard members, is content to slide by with dated content that will make longtime fans feel nostalgic, but leave newcomers wondering why this franchise is being revived twenty-five years after the first film debuted.
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