Cult Comedies are the one-hit wonders of film. So what happens when you follow that up with a sequel?
When Super Troopers came out in the early 2000s, it was overlooked by many. However, it saw a big revival after its theatrical release and became engrained in pop culture for years to come. Super Troopers is the quintessential cult comedy, with many passionate fans years beyond its initial release. Cult comedies are like one-hit wonders in that they are singular moments of greatness, but are never followed up. With that said, the biggest question going in to this is where does the sequel to the legend stand up? Well, it’s not bad at all.
Jay Chandrasekhar, who wrote, directed, and starred in this, brought his early 2000s style of comedy back in full effect. That means your fair share of dumb jokes dealing with phallic or physical humor. With that said, he does some things right in this movie. The jokes and sketches are truly unique to each character in the ensemble. In addition to that, they aren’t overtly timely so that it can be enjoyed for years to come. However, I must say, there is a fair amount wrong. Given the incredibly funny ensemble, you would expect a more free flowing and improv like environment and nature to this film. However, that’s not the case. It’s clearly stated by the actors and by the film itself that this is all to plan and whenever you do comedy as planned in film, it’s a coin toss whether or not it works. In this case, it always felt forced, or lacking emotion. There are brilliant moments in this film where the genius of the cast/writers shines and it really makes you wonder what these guys could’ve done with more budget and time.
The writing behind this film was pretty good. There were a lot of great jokes and scenarios throughout this film, but you can tell it didn’t quite translate as well as you would’ve wanted it to on the big screen. There were a few call backs to the previous film, but it wasn’t tiring or taken too far as callbacks often are. As for the plot, it was certainly an interesting premise, that a border dispute puts a Canadian town on the American side of the line. However, from there, it develops into a simple clichéd drug case a la 21 Jump Street coupled with a romantic subplot. The other subplots surrounding the many comedic escapades the characters find themselves in are, however, very entertaining. In a film such as this, the plot is of little importance and the development of the characters takes a backseat, but when the jokes and scenarios aren’t truly groundbreaking or incredibly memorable, that’s bad.
When the comedy troupe behind this film, Jay, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Kevin Heffernan, and Paul Soter, first pitched this film, they were turned down everywhere because studios believed an audience for this didn’t exist. Through a legendarily miraculous indiegogo campaign, they were able to bring this film to life, but just barely so. With more money and especially more time to shoot in a more free environment away from the pressure of a lean budget, they could’ve produced something truly amazing. As is, this is still a decent film that’s worth a watch and certainly worth your support if you felt any positive feelings for the first film.
