by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Marisa Coughlan, Nat Faxon, Chace Crawford, Hannah Simone
Intro:
… neither nimbly nor bimbly, and lacks the necessary shenanigans to keep audiences engaged.
The original Super Troopers dropped way back in 2001. The brainchild of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, it was a shaggy yarn about a group of bored Vermont state troopers who pull pranks and play practical jokes on citizens and one another to fill their days. Nearly plotless and wildly uneven, the film was nonetheless genuinely hilarious at times. While it was only a modest box office success, it became a huge cult hit, growing an audience on home media. Fan devotion was so acute that 17 years later, a crowd funding campaign gave us Super Troopers 2, which was a pretty solid if unexceptional addition to the series. Perfectly fine for fans but not exactly an all-timer. Somehow, eight years later, Super Troopers has returned in the form of Super Troopers 3 and, sadly, this may have been one visit to the well too many.
Super Troopers 3 reintroduces us to the state troopers in the middle of a crowded wedding. Who are the nuptials between? Why, Sarita (Hannah Simone) sister of Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar) and none other than perpetual punchline, Farva (Kevin Heffernan), of course! How did such a thing occur? Well, we flash back two months to find out, and the result is plot-heavy and doesn’t bring nearly enough gags to justify its existence.
So, let’s get the good stuff out of the way. Hannah Simone is terrific as Thorny’s sister, bringing her unusual combination of being absurdly hot with shockingly good comic timing to the fore. Some of the stuff with Thorny and Farva is cute, particularly in the film’s first 20-something minutes. Small but pivotal roles from Nat Faxon and Chace Crawford are decent and uh… that’s about it. Everything else is a tad limp or downright dodgy. The jokes are either too undercooked (a recurring word play bit never lands with any impact) or so goofy that they feel like they belong in a different movie (a very ill-judged talking/self driving car is overused to a maddening degree). Super Troopers 2 may have leaned too hard into callbacks and fan service, but at least there were chuckles to be had. This third bite of the cherry has whole yawning sections of time that are laugh-free deserts, devoid of any of the wit, whimsy or crude japery that made the first film so effective.
Writer/director/lead actor Jay Chandrasekhar is ordinarily a terrific comic talent, however his writing, direction and acting all feel tired here, listless and lacking inspiration. The rest of the cast are similarly afflicted and most of the time just look a bit lost for something to do. To put it in fan parlance: Super Troopers 3 is neither nimbly nor bimbly, and lacks the necessary shenanigans to keep audiences engaged. The film features a post credit sting for a proposed fourth entry, but after this lethargic offering, that feels more like a threat than a promise.
