Sometimes, a franchise sticks around long enough to transcend criticism. Not because it’s particularly excellent, but because anyone who would raise any issues with the newest iteration simply won’t watch it. It feels like a sensible wager to say that there aren’t many casual “Super Troopers” fans still following the events of the series. 2018’s long-awaited “Super Troopers 2” validated the original 2001 film‘s cult status with a sequel, without exactly demonstrating why this series needed to become a multiplex mainstay in the 2020s. If you left that film demanding even more adventure from these five Vermont Highway Patrol officers, it’s unlikely that anything in “Super Troopers 3” will disappoint you.
That sense of purgatory is the saving grace of an otherwise painful watch. “Super Troopers 3” once again picks up with reinstated state troopers Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar), Carl (Paul Soter), Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske), and Farva (Kevin Heffernan) messing around on the side of the road. Thorny is preparing to let his sister Sarita (Hannah Simone) stay with him for a month as she lectures at a local college, but a car accident en route to his house leaves her trapped in a car that’s about to explode. When Farva manages to rescue her, she immediately falls in love with him, and they decide to get married. It’s every man’s dream: seeing your sister engaged to your grossest, most obnoxious friend.
From there, “Super Troopers 3” tries to become a culture clash comedy, juxtaposing Farva’s rough edges with the traditional values of Thorny and Sarita’s Indian parents as they plan a wedding. You might think that’s a topic that “Super Troopers,” a franchise largely built around weed jokes and highway pranks, is ill-equipped to contribute to. And you’d be correct. But if nothing else, you’ll be treated to hilarious jokes about an Indian man who becomes a sex maniac whenever he violates his religious beliefs and eats beef (a phenomenon that he aptly describes as “beef dick”).
While Thorny does his best to break up the wedding, the gang once again finds themselves enmeshed in an international crime ring they suspect is driven by Big Syrup and the industry’s many enemies. That provides ample opportunities to bring back some familiar faces, but it also leaves you with the sense that this franchise either has to come up with some new ideas or stop existing altogether.
But that’s coming from the perspective of someone who needs more than just Mustache Ride references to be entertained, which is not this movie’s target audience. The true value of “Super Troopers” has always stemmed from the chemistry between its five leads and their penchant for endless one-liners. Chandrasekhar’s film (co-written by the entire Broken Lizard collective) delivers those in droves. Even if many tread territory already worn out by Comedy Central in the mid-2000s, the sheer density ensures that some of them are bound to hit. (I’ll be the first to admit, I laughed out loud at an unexpected “Ocean’s 8” reference that was perfectly placed. If you’ve grown up with the Troopers, you might end up laughing at even more of them.)
But 25 years have passed since the original “Super Troopers” hit theaters, and the slacking public worker schtick just doesn’t hit quite as hard with the characters firmly entrenched in middle-aged life. From “Clerks” to “Jackass,” contemporary cinema contains plenty examples of “Young Guys Fucking Around” franchises that successfully navigated their characters’ aging with varying levels of artistic success. But the common denominator in those successful transitions is the full-throated embrace of the passage of time. “Super Troopers 3” contains a few small references (Brian Cox’s Captain John O’Hagen is now a retiree who only stops by the office to use the toaster), but it still feels stuck between the youthful energy of the original film, the nostalgia of the sequel, and the lost potential of something more interesting that could have existed in its place.
Instead, we’ll all have to settle for Mustache Ride references. Comedy movies are a rarity these days, and the mere fact that these friends got a chance to make something together is probably worth something. They appear to be having fun, and their most devoted fans probably will, too. But if you’re on the fence about “Super Troopers 3,” your memories of the original are almost certainly better than what you can see at the theater this weekend.
Grade: C-
A Searchlight Pictures release, “Super Troopers” opens in theaters on Friday, August 7.
