Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Super Troopers'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Personally, I've always considered comedy to be the hardest genre to tackle as a writer. After all, it's easy to find a way to infuriate the audience with a particular character's actions, or terrify them, or outright make them cry. But to make someone laugh, and laugh heartily takes a special touch and one such comedy troupe that manages to find ways to unleash unique comedic fury upon all of us with ease, is the ultra talented Broken Lizard.

Comprised of comedians; Jay Chandrasekhar, Erik Stolhanske, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Kevin Heffernan; Broken Lizard spent many years as an east coast comedy troupe, performing in various clubs and colleges until they exploded onto the screen in 2001 with a hit motion picture that just about everyone out there has seen, Super Troopers. 

This quirky comedy chronicled the adventures of Highway Patrolmen from the great state of Vermont, stationed outside of the town of Spurbury and well, that's really all the time we are going to spend talking about the plot today because as I mentioned a moment ago, there's a fair chance you've seen this movie, you likely laughed pretty darn hard while watching it since it is quite the brilliant comedy, so instead, let's talk about what makes this film so wonderful and why it endures to this day because truly, this motion picture is an absolute modern classic for one simple reason...its characters. 

Ask anyone who has seen this film and they'll be happy to tell you who they identified with the most on screen or who they thought was the funniest and there really is a sense of familiarity when watching this movie. Because we've all managed to run into someone like Farva, or dealt with a prankster like Mac and to top it off, there's a strange but awesome experience that comes with watching this motion picture, in that it simply feels as though you're hanging out with a bunch of friends and those friends decided to see what it might be like to get drunk and be part of law enforcement and awesome and hilarious shenanigans ensue, which brings us to the best part of Super Troopers...the fact that every single joke in this movie works perfectly.

Sometimes comedies try something off the wall that doesn't quite stick with the audience, but I'm hard pressed to find anyone who can think of a slow or unfunny moment in Super Troopers. Which means that its clear that the members of Broken Lizard truly set out to try anything and everything they could on screen to see what happens and that kind unbridled humor, when coupled with a smart script results in the wonder that this film provides, a perfect comedy. There's something in here to make everyone laugh and let's also be honest, we've all waited a lifetime to hear a veteran and seasoned actor such as Brian Cox fire off that 'Rainbow Sherbet' line. Either way, this is truly a once in a lifetime comedy, one that propelled Broken Lizard to new heights and multiple and equally brilliant films which we will discuss in the coming days. But if by chance you haven't seen Super Troopers, go out and just buy it right now, so that you can experience true genius and own a piece of comedic film history. 

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