Super Troopers (2002)

★★½
It's like Police Academy déja vu. Super Troopers is a comedy about ornery state troopers squaring off against the local police. There are jokes about how the troopers mess up their assignments, get in trouble and employ unorthodox tactics to solve the case. This sounds like one of the entries in the infamous '80s comedy film series, but it is not. The writers of Super Troopers, five men known as Broken Lizard, were no doubt inspired by that series, but their sense of humor helps the material rise to a level far above that series’ worst entries. The first few Police Academy movies were fine, but as more sequels came out, it was like a disease that infested theaters across the country. Even the jokes about The Blue Oyster Bar became tired.

Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske portray members of the Vermont Highway Patrol. They're rivals with the local police department. In fact, their competition is so great that they cross over into each other’s jurisdictions and steal cases. With state funding becoming a problem, one of them must go. When a drug smuggling case falls onto their laps, either the troopers or the police must solve the case first to survive.

Deceit and deception follow. Trooper Foster (Paul Soter) starts dating officer Ursula Hanson (Marisa Coughlan), and the question of who's playing who arises. The Troopers don't like the idea, but maybe Foster and Hanson can find more clues to the case. In the meantime, the Troopers waste time by joking around with the locals. The opening scenes, also seen in the trailer, show the Troopers pulling over three teenagers for no purpose other than to baffle them.

Super Troopers has a few gross scenes, but it's not mired in it like other movies. The script is more focused on jokes that stem from unusual situations rather than from bodily fluids. When the characters speak to one another, they speak like college students engaged in constant humorous discussion, as if nothing serious matters to them. Even with closure a possibility, they never lose their desire to laugh.

Though we do have the drug plot, much of Super Troopers is comprised of isolated scenes with a punch line. A brawl in a fast food restaurant is one example. The drug investigation itself didn't interest me so much. I had a better time just going with the flow and enjoying the movie's twisted sense of humor.

© 2002 Silver Screen Reviews