Gut Check: The ‘Super Troopers 2’ Trailer

What feels like a million years ago, a lil’ movie called Super Troopers came out and changed the way high school and college kids spoke to each other. This was the Nevermind the Bollocks… of indie-comedy college movies in the early 2000s and its sequel has rumored to be coming out any day now since Amazon only sold books.

Going In, I Knew: The boys at Broken Lizard put together an IndieGoGo campaign in 2015 to produce a sequel to one of the most beloved DVD watches of the last 20 years. Once upon a time, Gillette would send young men Gillette Mach 3 handles and razor blades on their 18th birthday. It was a brilliant plan because everyone I knew from the time I turned 18 to the time I turned 30 had a Mach 3 or they were a weirdo. A genius branding play. Super Troopers had a similar arc in that every person I know had a copy of this DVD in college. Seemingly no one intentionally bought it; they just had it. One day you’re hoping something good was on TV, the next day you’re making friends working “meow” into every conversation possible.

The infinitely quotable lines of this movie are essentially a secret handshake to anyone who has seen it more than once. I said, “I want a goddamn liter-a-cola” TODAY. This movie came out 17 years ago. That’s pretty good staying power and makes for a life threatening hike up Pop Culture Mountain for the team trying catch lightning in a bottle for the second time.

Gut Reaction: Yep – that’s what I remember from Super Troopers. That trailer was barely a minute and I think I know what this one is about. I am 90% sure that the rest of the movie – THAT SOMEHOW GOT BRIAN COX TO REPRISE HIS ROLE – follows suit. Same bits, new costumes, maybe a different barnyard sound worked into conversations with traffic violators.

Biggest Question: Rabbit may still be the lowest man on the totem pole, but after 20 years, why on earth is he still pledging the frat of the Vermont Highway Patrol? This character is three years away from putting in his ‘twenty’ which means he should be focused on his pension. Dude is getting his balls shaved by his friends – one of which is PUMPED about it.

What Are You Excited For: I am excited for this the same way I am excited to see Guns ‘N’ Roses in concert. I want to hear “Welcome to the Jungle,” I’m curious as to if Axl can still hit the high notes, and nostalgia is fun… in theory.

Yeah, I want to see more shenanigans and have a million more inside jokes to lob at my friends, but I don’t know if I want to watch ‘dads’ do it. I don’t need Super Troopers to remind me that life is fleeting, similarly to how I don’t need to watch people sway, sing ‘Patience,’ and dream about ‘87 to know what’s good about memories.

What Do You Wish Was Happening: I wish IndieGoGo or Netflix was wallpapering writers rooms with cash in 2006 so they could have ushered this along a lot sooner.

Best Case Scenario: This movie is rural New England and Maple Syrup Twin Peaks: The Return – a new story set in a familiar world with echoes to the past and eyes on the future.

Worst Case Scenario: It is immediately apparent why a studio didn’t green light this 15 years ago.

Super Troopers 2 opens in theaters on April 20th, 2018.