The latest installment in the Super Troopers franchise, Super Troopers 3, has been met with a harsh critique, with one reviewer describing it as "woeful" and "criminally unfunny."
The film, the third in the series following the original 2001 release and its 2018 sequel, is noted for its lack of comedic success, a sentiment that echoes a century-old observation about the persistence of low-brow humor in filmmaking. The original film's premise revolved around the incompetent antics of Vermont state troopers, a comedic angle that, according to the review, has failed to evolve and sustain an entire feature film.
This latest entry, written by the comedy group Broken Lizard and directed by star Jay Chandrasekhar, reportedly focuses on Senior Trooper Ramathorn's efforts to thwart his colleague Rodney Farva's marriage and the troopers' attempts to apprehend individuals targeting maple-syrup trucks. The humor is characterized as "broad," relying on gags about race, sex, drugs, and Canada, with a mere fraction of the jokes deemed successful.
The review suggests a decline in comedic quality, drawing a parallel to the demise of the Keystone Kops in 1926, a comedy troupe whose single joke of police incompetence was no longer considered sustainable. The article implies that a similar issue plagues Super Troopers 3, with the "idiots" seeming to have prevailed in the current cinematic landscape.
The film's cast includes Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, and Brian Cox reprising his role as a retired police captain. The review criticizes the perceived staleness of the humor, questioning the necessity of a new film so soon after the previous one.