Super Troopers

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Screenwriters: Broken Lizard

Institute History

  • 2001 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Starting with the opening trippy sequence of state troopers mindf***ing some teens whacked out on hallucinogenic mushrooms, Super Troopers takes you on a hilarious joyride with a group that makes the gang from Police Academy look like an elite crack squadron.

Thorny, Rabbit, Mac, and Foster are Vermont State Troopers stationed in the boonies on the Canadian border. They spend the bulk of their time toying with speeders and taking impounded sports cars for spins on the open highway, while trying to stay on the good side of their fatherly mentor, Captain O'Hagan, and avoiding their tactless, thick-necked compatriot, Officer Rod Farva. Unfortunately, their quiet existence hasn't gone unnoticed: The state has targeted their low-volume station for a potential budget cut. The guys attempt to straighten up their act but find it's not so easy to change their brazen ways, especially with their law-enforcement rivals, the shifty local Earlville Police Force, doing their best to speed up the shutdown. What ensues is one of the craziest and funniest independent films to ever play at the Film Festival.

Jay Chandrasekhar and the Broken Lizard Comedy Group return to the Sundance Film Festival (Puddle Cruiser played in 1997), building on their already impressive talents with a sophomore effort that displays uncanny comedic timing that can only come from a group familiar with each other and innately aware of how to make people laugh. A combination of over-the-top gags and subtle jokes permeate this fast-paced comedy that you'll need to see again because of what you'll miss the first time from laughing so hard.

— Trevor Groth

Screening Details

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