Movie Review: Super Troopers 2 (2018)

Super Troopers 2 is directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and stars Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Rob Lowe, Will Sasso, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Tyler Labine . This is of course a sequel to the original Super Troopers from 2001. I'll try not to reveal any spoilers not in the trailer or the first 20 minutes of the film. You can watch the trailer at the end of this post.

This film takes place some time after the original film ends. The state troopers became local police and then somehow lost their jobs due to the Fred Savage incident. We get some of this partly explained, sort of, by Sean William Scott in a cameo appearance. This is really just a bit of exposition to set up our cast to become state troopers again.

It is discovered that the northern boundaries of Vermont are incorrect so a city in southern Quebec is going to join the USA. The Governor (Lynda Carter) rehires the former state troopers to patrol this area as they get ready to turn it over to America. The Canadians are not too happy about this. They throw obscenities as well as objects at an attempted press conference with the state troopers. Rob Lowe plays the mayor of the town. Will Sasso and Tyler Labine play two of the mounties who will lose their jobs and so serve as the opposition to the state troopers. The troopers discover someone has been stashing illegal pills and other contraband around the town.

Now I know what you must be thinking. This sounds awfully similar to the story from the original, where they competed with the local police and had to solve a drug crime. And well that is pretty similar, but this is a movie that adds new humor and sends the plot in its own direction. There is just enough of a similar premise, with some callback jokes, to give something to the hardcore fans letting them know this is the sequel they wanted. The took a similar approach as DIsney did with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They know the fans expect a meow routine and know that a rivalry with local cops works. They add original material on top of this.

Like in Canadian Bacon, the jokes about Canadians might seem funnier to someone like me who lives close to the border. They seem to mash stereotypes of both English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. Perhaps that works to present such a ridiculous stereotype that it doesn't require experience with actual Canadians to laugh at the jokes. Jokes about Canadians watching Hockey Night in Canada may seem simple, but they could easily in turn make jokes about Americans gathering together to watch Monday Night Football. Jokes about nationality are not really a big deal when the countries are fairly equal.

Movie fans should enjoy the many references to past films, including a routine from the Breakfast Club and references to The Silence of the Lambs, Batman Returns, American Pie and Throw Momma from the Train. There is also a brief cameo by Bruce McCulloch (The Kids in the Hall) as a Canadian border guard. Jim Gaffigan gets to return to his previous role as a driver abused by the highway patrol.

When the troopers find the illegal drugs, this sets up a long running joke where each trooper tries a different drug, affecting each of their personalities. It works, at least to change up the characters a bit. Jay Chandrakshar actually is less the star of this film, giving much room for the other members of Broken Lizard to shine. This is very much a comedy troupe that work great off each other. It's great to see them back in a prominent film again. Hopefully they will get the funding to make more movies again, although I doubt we will see a Beerfest 2.

Personally, I laughed throughout the film. There wasn't even a big audience, so it wasn't like it was only funny because of laughter in the room. Should it be any surprise that critics largely gave it negative ratings just as they did to the original? If you liked the original, there is no reason you should not like this sequel.

The movie has everything a fan should love. There are plenty of fistfights, drugs and mustaches. The humor doesn't go too far into gross out gags, and by today's standards they're not very gross at all. There is some slightly homophobic humor, mainly dealing with the uncomfortable closeness between men. Maybe that was funnier to some. Still, there is enough humor in the movie even without having to add sexist and homophobic jokes. I wouldn't argue with anyone who finds the sexism in the movie inappropriate. Sometimes humor will overstep bounds when dealing with a comedy group. It's hard to define how close to the edge one can go before its too far. Watching the film, it did feel sexist and homophobic at times. Perhaps two men kissing or a man touching another's penis could be done in a way that is transgressive, and daring rather than played just for laughs. Perhaps the audience for this will find it a gag regardless. Maybe there could have been a way to play this out without such humor but maybe it's to be expected from an all-male comedy troupe.

Overall I give it 3 out of 4 mustaches.

This trailer is the property of Fox Searchlight Pictures