Super Troopers Information

Super Troopers is a 2001 comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske). Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox co-star while Lynda Carter has a cameo appearance. In total, Fox Searchlight paid $3.25 million for distribution rights of the film and grossed $23.1 million at the box office.

Plot

The film takes place in 2000 in the fictional town of Spurbury, Vermont, near the Canadian border. The plot centers on five Vermont State Troopers who seem to have more of a knack for pranks than actual police work. The experienced Troopers, Thorn, Mac, and Foster, spend most of their time devising new ways of messing with the heads of the people they pull over and hazing the new recruit, "Rabbit". They also find time to torment their easily infuriated radio dispatcher, Rodney Farva, who has been removed from patrol work because he was involved in a fight with several students during a (potentially questionable and dubious) traffic stop of a schoolbus (shown during the closing credits). Their days of pranking and slacking off are cut short when the Troopers suddenly find their post and their jobs threatened by the state's impending budget cuts.

The troopers have an ongoing rivalry with the local Spurbury Police Department. They repeatedly enter conflicts with them; one such dispute breaks out into an all-out fistfight, further increasing the station's chances of being shut down. Their chances to keep their station improve when they uncover a possible drug smuggling ring. When they suspect a connection to a murder investigation by the local police, State Trooper Captain O'Hagan (Brian Cox) tries to get Spurbury Police Chief Grady to cooperate, but Grady wants the trooper station shut down so his department can have a bigger budget.

Foster secretly develops a relationship with Ursula, the Spurbury Police dispatcher, and together they find a stash of confiscated marijuana hidden in the Spurbury impound. Ursula suggests stealing the marijuana from the impound and showing it to the Governor (Lynda Carter) during a banquet so they can convince her to keep the trooper station open. However, Grady foils their plan by showing the marijuana to the Governor himself during the banquet, putting Foster and Ursula at odds with each other when Foster suspects that Ursula leaked the plan to Grady.

The now-unemployed troopers learn that it was Farva, not Ursula, who informed Grady in exchange for a transfer to the local police. Farva's motivation arose from his constant belittlement by the other troopers, but he relents and wants to make amends. The troopers learn that the Spurbury Police runs protection for the drug smuggling ring. The former troopers and Ursula expose the corrupt policemen and smugglers and bring them to justice. Unfortunately their actions are not enough to earn reinstatement of their trooper unit because of the budget cuts.

Three months later, Thorn and Rabbit are working as beer delivery men. They go to a house party run by a group of college kids whom they had previously arrested for marijuana possession. The underage college kids are at first panicked to see them, but begin vengefully tormenting them when they realize they are no longer state troopers. Thorn and Rabbit then take off their delivery clothes to reveal they are actually Spurbury Police officers, having replaced their corrupt predecessors, and are now free to continue their shenanigans, much to the college kids' discomfort.

Cast

State Troopers

• Brian Cox as Captain John O'Hagan; Commander of the Vermont State Troopers.
• Jay Chandrasekhar as Lieutenant Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn; Second-in-Command of the Troopers.
• Paul Soter as Trooper Jeff Foster; arguably the most calm and reserved Trooper of the force.
• Steve Lemme as Trooper MacIntyre "Mac" Womack; the Trooper who enjoys pranks the most.
• Erik Stolhanske as Trooper Robert "Rabbit" Roto; a rookie State Trooper.
• Kevin Heffernan as Trooper Rodney "Rod" Farva; a fat, loud, obnoxious and arrogant Trooper who has been placed on radio duty as punishment.

Spurbury Police

• Daniel von Bargen as Chief Bruce Grady; Commander of the Spurbury Police Department.
• Marisa Coughlan as Officer Ursula Hanson; the only non corrupt member of the SPD.
• James Grace as Officer Jim Rando; the brute of the SPD.
• Michael Weaver as Officer Sam Smy; an arrogant, chauvinistic member of the SPD.
• Dan Fey as Officer Jack Burton; an intellectually lacking member of the SPD.

Other cast

• Andre Vippolis as College Boy 1
• Joey Kern as College Boy 2
• Geoffrey Arend as College Boy 3
• Amy de Lucia as Bobbi
• Philippe Brenninkmeyer as German man
• Maria Tornberg as German woman
• Jimmy Noonan as Frank Galikanokus
• Jim Gaffigan as Larry Johnson
• Blanchard Ryan as Casino La Fantastique Sally
• Charlie Finn as Dimpus Burger Guy
• John Bedford Lloyd as Mayor Timber
• Lynda Carter as Governor Jessman

Production

Filming

"Local Cop" scenes were mainly filmed in the city of Beacon, New York, and the "Highway Cop" scenes were filmed on New York State Route 117 and the Taconic State Parkway both in Westchester County, New York in the towns of Ossining and Briarcliff Manor, and the nearby Rockefeller State Park Preserve. The syrup chugging scene was filmed in M's Cozy Corner located in Fishkill, which later was replaced by a pharmacy, which closed in 2007 due to flooding. The opening scene involving the white Mazda Miata as well as the famous "Drop Kick" scene were shot at a tavern called The Golden Rail Ale House in Newburgh. The Winnebago fight scene was filmed on the Lime Kiln Road extension near Interstate 84 in East Fishkill. The reception scene was filmed at the Villa Borghese (a catering hall) in Wappingers Falls, near Poughkeepsie. The Dimpus Burger aka "liter of cola" scene was filmed at the Burger King off of Route 9 at Vassar Road, and is still as of May 2009.

Critical reception

The film has received mixed reviews from critics; dubbed a classic by some and panned by others. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 35% approval rating among critics, while Metacritic, another aggregate review website, gives it a metascore of 48 out of 100, which, according to the website's rating system, scores as Mixed or average reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film 2½ stars out of 4, saying "I can't quite recommend it — it's too patched together — but I almost can; it's the kind of movie that makes you want to like it".

Overall, the film grossed $18,492,362 in the United States and $23,182,223 worldwide.

Despite mixed reviews, Super Troopers perseveres as a cult-classic of the comedy genre with an 89% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and continues to enjoy widespread appeal among young adult audiences.

Soundtrack

1. Trooper With an Attitude - 38 Special
2. Geez Louise - The Unband
3. Shoot First, Run Like Hell - Nashville Pussy
4. Pass the Hatchet - Southern Culture on the Skids
5. Big Bear - Steak
6. Cheap Motels - Southern Culture on the Skids
7. Cannot One Night Stand It (Anymore) - Jack Grace Band
8. Bad Apples - Royal Fingerbowl
9. Bidibodi Bidibu - The Bubbles
10. Wrong Side of a Gun - Nashville Pussy
11. Corn Rocket, The - Southern Culture on the Skids
12. King of the Mountain - Southern Culture on the Skids
13. Worm Farm - Jack Grace Band
14. Second to the Bottle - Steak
15. Pink Slip - The Unband
16. Who's the King (You Know That's Me) - Joseph Henry

Awards

In 2001 Super Troopers was one of three winners of the Audience Award for "Midnight Film" at the South by Southwest Film Festival, along with Lady Porn and Wave Twisters.

Sequel

At the 2006 Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, California, Broken Lizard revealed that a prequel for the film was in the works which would take place in the 1970s and follow the fathers of the main characters in the original film. Jay Chandreskhar told Rotten Tomatoes, "The joke is that we'll make it Super Troopers '76, set during the bicentennial." "We'll have a little shaggier hair and mustaches...We might do it, I don't know. That movie has sort of a special place in a lot of people's hearts, so all we can do is mess it up."

However, in a January 2009 interview with MovieWeb.com, Paul Soter and Jay Chandrasekhar revealed that the movie would be a sequel. Chandrasekhar stated "We pick up the story essentially right where we left off. Maybe about three months later. We are all working undercover for the lumber industry. What has happened is that there are all of these eco-terrorists that are trying to blow up the lumber mills. And we are there working as security." Soter added to that: "The big picture is that we are on the Canadian Border. And in reality, what has happened is that the government has found places where the markers were off, or wrong. And there are these areas of land that were thought to be Canada, but are actually part of the US. We are enlisted to patrol this area that was always thought to be Canadian soil. But no, it is actually the United States. We are enlisted because they have to send someone there to help make it part of the US territory now. We get recruited to be the highway patrolmen there. And we are surrounded by all of these Canadian people that aren't happy about this. We essentially have to impose US law on a bunch of Canadians that aren't at all happy about it."

In November 2009, Broken Lizard revealed that they had finished three drafts of the sequel's screenplay and that independent financiers had agreed to finance the movie. They also revealed that the character of Captain O'Hagan was part of the screenplay and that actor Brian Cox was planning on returning to the role.