It’s always fun to see old friends again, especially when you know they make you laugh. Seventeen years later, Vermont gets its finest police force back.
Make no mistake. During the entire time of “Super Troopers 2,” I found myself laughing at jokes that already passed but still made me giggle long after the punchline. This movie is one of the funniest sequels I have seen in a long time.
In an era where old franchises are returning, most recently “Dumb and Dumber To” or even “Zoolander 2,” it’s very easy to ruin the legacy its former has set up in an instant. This is where Broken Lizard, the group behind “littering and smoking the reefer,” beat the odds to create a sequel worthy of the original.
The gang returns in full form this time around, and although there are a few cheap jokes that repeat themselves, they still create genuine humorous moments that deserve praise.
The troopers find themselves out of their job due to an incident that involves a simple mundane task, and now they have to find a way back into the field of the police force.
Instead of making an unnecessary film following a cult classic, we get an original story line that has quite a bit of depth, even if it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The characters have distinct personalities and watching them all interact with “Farva,” the black sheep of the group, makes the entire movie worth it even on its own right.
This movie got me thinking though: why can’t all sequels try to respect the audience and original source material like this one does?
“Super Troopers 2” was funded mostly by crowdsourcing on a very limited budget compared to most big sequels these days, yet they still managed to find a way to make it hilarious and real. It exposes the horrible effort of mainstream Hollywood sequels and shows more money doesn’t mean better results.
While it does have a few awkward moments, especially with Rob Lowe’s strange role as “Guy Le Franc,” and the terrible fake french spoken throughout the movie, it still manages to make wholesome humor without crossing the line at any point. There are cameos galore in this movie and I wouldn’t spoil a single one but the greatest one is a little past after the credits start rolling, almost like a reward for standing by Broken Lizard till the end.
The only gripe I had with the movie was the pace. You go from one set piece to the next, jarringly at first, and it doesn’t let you enjoy the moment you are watching. You start to feel like the plot is trying to rush so you don’t see any of the holes it may produce along the way but it doesn’t matter because this is a comedy, and like most comedies, as long as you can keep the laughter consistent people will enjoy your movie.
I will say this, if you did not enjoy the first film at all, you should steer clear of this one. The jokes and punchlines here aren’t going to be anything anyone hasn’t seen before, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t be enjoyed for the simplicity and undeniable charm.
For a movie with a run time of just over an hour and a half, “Super Troopers 2” left me wanting more. I only hope Broken Lizard decides to keep working together because their humor deserves to be shared.
