Critic Reviews

It’s not only better than any of the Hangover sequels, it beats the hell out of the two Meet The Parents follow-ups so far. Depending on the school of frat comedy, that might put the Broken Lizard boys in the running for valedictorian.

If all you want is to see these lovable goofballs again you'd be better served watching the first two 'Super Troopers' movies and reliving their good old days. Those films are still mostly funny and the new days aren’t so good.

This is a shaggy, patched-together, but still likable movie, worth seeing in a theater if you’re a fan.

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.

The first Super Troopers was a delightfully silly comedy about Vermont state troopers, with just enough plot to accommodate the barrage of goofy gags, wordplay, and absurdist bits that made the movie so rewatchable. A quarter of a century later, there’s an overwhelming amount of plot and not nearly enough laughs.

The jokes are still wildly scattershot and frequently, knowingly lame; the production is still cheap and cheerfully scrappy; the whole ragged enterprise is still reliant on the evident affection and chemistry between its players to hold it together. None of that really amounts to a persuasive reason to exist on the big screen, however.

Since the film written by the Broken Lizard troupe members features a non-stop series of gags, some of them inevitably land despite the clumsy execution. But by the time it reaches its climax with a wedding shootout, one of the troopers encased in syrup, and another sticking his hand up an elephant’s rear end, you’ll be exhausted from not laughing.

Whatever raw charm existed in the original underdog sleeper hit from 2001 (and found some purchase in the agreeably goofy 2018 sequel) has been hardened here into a piece of machine-stamped plastic.

The Spy v Spy games between Farva and Thorny are meant to be the heart of the film, the running joke that makes Super Troopers 3 feel more like a live-action cartoon. But just as modern versions of Bugs Bunny can look slapdash and misshapen next to the postwar classics, this third installment can’t hold a candle to the original, a masterclass in juvenile comedy.