BEFORE: I could easily have programmed "First Man" next (I could have watched an Academy screener) with Jason Clarke carrying over - and that would have the added benefit of remaining on topic, since "Chappaquiddick" referenced the moon landing quite a bit, and took place at the same time. Perhaps that's a lost opportunity, I just didn't think of it - but I've already worked out my linking from now until mid-July, and if I follow the track I've created, I know that I'm going to get to "Avengers: Endgame" and two other Marvel movies on time, so I'm inclined to stick with that. If I switched it up now, I'm just not sure - or I'd have to sit down and re-work the whole thing just to hit the same benchmarks. There's a part right after "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" where I have an option to slip "First Man" into the mix, I'll have to think about it first though.
So as planned, Jim Gaffigan carries over from "Chappaquiddick".
THE PLOT: When a border dispute arises between the U.S. and Canada, the Super Troopers are tasked with establishing a Highway Patrol station in the disputed area.
AFTER: It's not hard for me to rank the films of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard. Tied for first are their 2001 film "Super Troopers" and their 2006 drinking comedy "Beerfest", two classics I can watch in full just about every time they air, and I hope I never get tired of them. I know every line backwards and forwards, because I've seen them nearly as many times as the original "Star Wars" trilogy, I'll bet. Next on the list, in 3rd and 4th positions are "Club Dread" and "The Slammin' Salmon", but what I learned with that last one (their only film released after I started this project) is that comedies such as this are better watched when I'm not by myself, because laughter is somewhat contagious - so for this sequel I had to wait for some extra time on the weekend, so my wife had some time to join me. She's also a fan of the original "Troopers", and also found "Slammin' Salmon" funnier than I did at first. Oh, and way, way down on the bottom of the Broken Lizard pile is their remake/reboot of "The Dukes of Hazzard".
This sequel was mostly funded by a IndieGoGo campaign, which is a great way of proving that there's an audience excitedly waiting for something - but what's weird is that we're picking up the story of these 5 Vermont troopers about 17 years after the last film, meanwhile the closing credits for "Beerfest" teased the sequel to THAT film, "Potfest", and so where is that movie? Pot's become legal in several states since then, so why not move forward with that story? Maybe there are still legal or moral issues over showing people smoking a lot of cannabis in a competition?
But the tricky thing about doing ANY sequel to a classic film, especially one with such a cult following as "Super Troopers", is making sure that it pays respect to the original, while also breaking some new ground. It's the "Empire Strikes Back" conundrum - the film has to be set in the same universe as the original, but it has to have some new characters and new situations, in order to appeal to new fans, and not just the ones who would be happy with a re-tread. So when this film starts, they had to explain why the Troopers aren't local cops any more, what they've been doing instead for the last few years, and also engineer a way to get them back out on the road, pulling over speeders. And hopefully both of those transitions will feel very natural. But beware, these comedy improv guys still have a few tricks up their sleeves - I've seen false endings before, but never a "false beginning".
So a fishing trip set up by their old boss, Captain O'Hagen, turns out to be a secret mission to police this section of Canada that's about to be turned over to the U.S. in a border dispute, and they've got to work with a trio of Mounties to insure that the transition goes smoothly. Something tells me this could never happen, because you'd probably start a riot if you told a few thousand Canadians living just over the border that they were now U.S. citizens. I think you'd see a mass exodus, because wouldn't all those people want to keep their free healthcare? And the people just over the border, didn't they move up there after the 2016 election, just to get away from Trump? But I guess this is part of the story, because of course the transition is not easy, due to the massive cultural differences between Americans and Canadians.
But at least this gives our heroes a chance to try and discredit the Mounties, by putting on the RCMP uniforms and pulling variations on their old traffic-stop routines from the first film. This was a great way to repeat the old jokes, but also put a new spin on them. And because these five guys are essentially proud, petty fuck-ups, they manage to get into more trouble, no matter what they do. The first film also featured them tracking down a smuggling ring (after partaking quite liberally of the herbal evidence, and watching Saudi Arabian "Johnny Chimpo" cartoons while high...) and that plot sort of comes back, too, only it now involves prescription drugs, like steroids, opioids and female hormone pills.
In fact there are like a thousand in-jokes for fans who have seen both films, that's undoubtedly the best way to go, because you're not going to know what "Team Ramrod" refers to or how the troopers lost their jobs in the first place (the first time, anyway - footage from the 2nd time they lost their jobs is shown in a mid-credits scene). Just to be sure, I watched this film a SECOND time today, and it does hold up the second time, although it felt like it all went by extremely quickly. That's what I get for watching the same film twice in two weeks, I guess. But I'm having a pretty good week, lots of "7s" lately.
Also starring Jay Chandrasekhar (last seen in "I Love You, Man"), Paul Soter (last seen in "The Slammin' Salmon"), Steve Lemme (ditto), Kevin Heffernan (ditto), Erik Stolhanske (last seen in "The Sweetest Thing"), Brian Cox (last seen in "Forsaken"), Rob Lowe (last seen in "Sex Tape"), Emmanuelle Chriqui (last seen in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan"), Tyler Labine (last seen in "Rapture-Palooza"), Hayes MacArthur (last seen in "She's Out of My League"), Will Sasso (last seen in "Happy Gilmore"), Lynda Carter (last seen in "Sky High"), Marisa Coughlan, Clifton Collins Jr. (last seen in "Brothers"), Paul Walter Hauser (last seen in "I, Tonya"), Jimmy Tatro, with cameos from Seann William Scott (last seen in "Goon: Last of the Enforcers"), Damon Wayans Jr. (last seen in "How to Be Single"), Bruce McCulloch (last seen in "Superstar"), Fred Savage (last seen in "Welcome to Mooseport").
RATING: 7 out of 10 liters of cola
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