Review: Super Troopers

To quote Brian Cox’s chief highway patrolmen, Super Troopers is entirely too “antsy in the pantsy.”

Super Troopers
Photo: 20th Century Fox

I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to like a film as much as Super Troopers, a straight-faced skit comedy from the five-man comedy troupe Broken Lizard. The premise is clever: Bored highway patrolmen stage pranks on unsuspecting drivers while trying to gain cred from the local police. Think Police Academy without the frat-boy sexology. It’s earnest and retroactive but feels entirely too much like a stoner basketball match: constantly throwing hoops, it misses most of the time. The film’s techno-scored swinger scene is hysterically Euro-trash-y, but it’s also a grim reminder of the unpredictability of Broken Lizard’s freestyle comedy shtick. To quote Brian Cox’s chief highway patrolmen, Super Troopers is entirely too “antsy in the pantsy.” Name a character Rabbit and Rabbit Run references become inevitable. Cotton candy and bestiality accounts for the film’s best moments but the Lizard gang lets some of the film’s better material (Afghanistanimation) go to waste. Admirably deadpan, Super Troopers works best when the cops hound commuters (here, with subliminal meows and staged shootings). When it’s cop-on-cop action, though, plot takes over and the film looses its luster. Much like Slackers, this one is a noble failure.

Score: 
 Cast: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Marisa Coughlan, Lynda Carter  Director: Jay Chandrasekhar  Screenwriter: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske  Distributor: 20th Century Fox  Running Time: 103 min  Rating: R  Year: 2002  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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