SUPER TROOPERS 3. One might rightfully wonder — as I did, while watching Straight Time (1978) on the Criterion Channel on Saturday Night — if there is any reason to go see a third installment of a willfully dumb cop-comedy franchise. At best, it seems unlikely to add anything to the cinematic lexicon (or even to its own mythology, if we’re being honest); at worst, it has the distinct aroma of a cash grab. But, as I’ve said before and in spite of my own pretensions and aspirations to pretension, I’ve been a fan of the Broken Lizard oeuvre long enough now to both feel very old and circumspect about my taste and choices.
As time continues to accelerate, though, my apologist tendencies have perhaps tempered my intrinsic self-denigration; I like what I like. And since Super Troopers (2001), I have very much enjoyed (most, not all) of the collected works of the troupe comprised of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stohlhanske. They are that beyond-rare college comedy team that has parlayed their beery hijinks into ongoing commercial success. The work of the Lizards can, when the chemistry is optimized, rise beyond frat-party yuks to something like elevated stupidity, the kind of deceptively finely crafted comedy that has always been in dishearteningly short supply. It’s been said (by me, among others) that the work can hew broad and questionable, but because it neither punches down nor attempts something loftily unattainable, it is generally more successful than not, at least for those of us pleased by relatively easy laughs.
While everything post-Beerfest (2006) seems to have eschewed some of the early stuff’s incipient cinematic aspirations, the whole catalog is still defined by a sense that the minds behind it (while maybe not elevated in their pursuits) are working together to make something they think is funny and that we will hopefully like. There is an optimism, an openness to it that, beyond the first-blush coarseness, speaks to an honest, uncynical impulse to make comedy (if not high art) for its own sake. Rudimentary? To be sure, but harder to pull off than we might like to think.
So, with all that rationalization firmly in place, it became clear that, despite no good reason to do so, I would venture out for Super Troopers 3. Having done so, I cannot, nor will I pretend that the movie adds anything substantive to the American cinematic comedy canon, or even to the series itself. This installment leans even more heavily on its own past than the last, but also dials back some of the micro-cruelty, even occasionally settling into meditations on lost youth and the silliness of being silly in rapidly advancing middle age. Of course, none of that self-reflection stalls or even slows the onslaught of its own ridiculousness, but for those of us who know what we signed up for, all the better.
The inciting incident, this time around, is Rod Farva’s (Heffernan) precipitous engagement to Ramathorn’s (Chandrasekhar) sister Sarita (Hannah Simone), itself precipitated by an act of apparent road-rage that left her imperiled and, surprisingly, rescued by the consummately unlikeable Farva. Suitably displeased by this development, Ramathorn sets out to expose Farva for the cretin he is, in hopes that the high-minded elder Ramathorns will call off the wedding.
Meanwhile, the Troopers are kinda-sorta investigating a series of syrup-truck vandalizations and rumors of a new drug making its way across the northern border. These are, of course, basically set-ups for dick jokes and willfully stupid confrontations.
Probably because my hopes and expectations for Super Troopers 3 were calibrated so low, I was generally pleasantly surprised by it. There were moments when I wished for something more expansive, grander or, least likely of all, insightful, sure. And in all honesty, some of the contrivances are dumb enough to prevent their jokes from landing. But when the movie returns to the basics, to sight-gags and reactions, it recaptures something of the magical feeling of discovery, of weightless displacement, that made me a fan of this stuff all those years ago. Because it is simple and uncynical (admittedly to its own occasional detriment), the movie allows for enough uncomplicated laughs that, despite my reservations, I was left with an overall feeling of satisfaction. Buyer beware: This is an example of the ever-rarer low-concept comedy movie predicated on the agreement that we are participating in a sort of cult of personality that will allow for sustained suspension of skepticism and buoy us through the less spectacular moments. Its success is contingent on our willingness to laugh at it. By that standard, Broken Lizard may well be, like myself, a vestige of a bygone era — polar bears on the ice floe, but maybe with a few teeth left. R. 104M. BROADWAY.
John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.
NOW PLAYING
THE BRINK OF WAR. Ronald Reagan (Jeff Daniels) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Jared Harris) face off in a historical showdown for folks who miss the Cold War. PG. 117M. BROADWAY.
THE END OF OAK STREET. A family’s home gets cosmically relocated to a whole different neighborhood they might not survive. PG13. 100M. BROADWAY.
HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL. More mythological adaptation in the filmed Broadway show. NR. 141M. BROADWAY.
THE INVITE. One couple (Pénelope Cruz, Ed Norton) sees a much more awkward couple (Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde) in the building and really loves their vibe. R. 107M. MINOR.
MINIONS AND MONSTERS. More animated workplace adventure with the little yellow henchmen. PG. 90M. BROADWAY.
NIMRODS. Band besties drive cross-countries for a dream gig opening for Green Day. R. 102M. BROADWAY.
THE ODYSSEY. Matt Damon takes a boatload of Greeks on a 20-year Dunkin run in director Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic. R. 108M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
ONE NIGHT ONLY. Rom-com set in a New York where singles can only have sex one night a year like it’s a horny version of The Purge. BROADWAY.
PAW PATROL: THE DINO MOVIE. The franchise takes a turn for the Jurassic. PG. 88M. BROADWAY.
POINT BREAK (1991). A 35th anniversary showing of the bank-robbing, surfing, sky-diving action classic. Vaya con Swayze. R. 122M. BROADWAY.
SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) faces his own evolution in a city where nobody remembers him. With Zendaya. PG13. 145M. BROADWAY, MINOR.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974). An Aug. 18 Texas Chainsaw Day showing of the gory buzzer. R. 83M. BROADWAY.
For showtimes, visit catheaters.com and minortheatre.com.
This article appears in ‘The Next Wave’.