Hot Take: Super Troopers 2

Hot Take: Pointless sequel. It’s like a pack of crackers you find stuffed in the back of the pantry. Sure, they look tasty but once you bite in, they’re dry and stale. 

I’m not the best person to review Super Troopers 2. I never really understood the allure of the original (although we could never keep it in stock at the Blockbuster I worked at) and if I wasn’t someone who saw almost everything, there’s little to no chance for me to see this one. But since I see almost everything, Super Troopers 2 hit my radar and, to my chagrin, lived down to those low expectations. Then again, what should you expect from a film that uses a cameo from a character (Stifler from American Pie) that hasn’t been relevant since the early 2000s to open the movie?

Seven years (But really it’s been 17) after the first film, the officers from the Spurbury Police Department have been fired and now work construction. An incident during a Fred Savage ride-along that resulted in his death also led to their termination. Now the group works construction except for Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar who also directs) who is a logger and Foster (Paul Soter) who lives with his girlfriend and former co-worker Spurbury Police Chief Hanson (Marisa Coughlan). The group is summoned to a cabin just over the Canadian border by Captain O’Hagen (Brian Cox) where they find out they are being asked, on a probationary basis, to help a Canadian town join the United States after an error is discovered during a recent land survey that reveals the city should now be part of the U.S.. Vermont governor Jessman (Lynda Carter) makes the request and gives the movie a reason for another pointless cameo and soon enough, Thorny, Foster, Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) and Farva (Kevin Heffernan) are back in business. They aren’t welcome by the town. The mayor (Rob Lowe) who is a former hockey player (Wouldn’t it have been funnier if his name was Dean Youngblood instead of Guy Le Franc?) drags them into situations and turns the town against them. They are also pitted against a trio of Canadian Mounties who they will be replacing once the conversion happens. This trio — played by Tyler Labine, Will Sasso and Hayes MacArthur — provide the most fresh comedy, I guess. However, the movie devolves into some stale bits where they do their Super Troopers thing and rehash some old material sprinkled with some new wrinkles.

This unsurprising and somewhat laugh-free comedy sputters on for 100 minutes right down to the reveal of who the bad guys are. (SPOILER!!! You might be able to figure this one out just by looking at the cast list.) It’s hard to call the sequel unnecessary since it was one of the largest crowdfunded projects on Indiegogo, raising $4.7 million in an effort to get the film made. So, it was definitely something at least a few people wanted. The budget ballooned to $13.5 million after the Broken Lizard team received an additional $8 million in private financing and received tax rebates from the state of Massachusetts to film there. The crowdfunding effort can be credited to the original film’s cultish following once it hit the home video market as it failed to reach $20 million at the box office. The sequel will surpass the original in just 7 days. That doesn’t make it funnier (It’s not… and I didn’t like the first) or worthwhile. It does give credence to the power of crowdsourcing though as now the release has a built-in audience ready and willing to see the finished product. Too bad the finished product here wasn’t better.

Why Watch?

You crowdfunded the sequel.

Why Skip?

You’re too busy right meow.