Super Troopers 2 review: Relentlessly gross filmmaking

On average, only one in a dozen jokes is remotely funny but you will find a few comic gems hidden in the muck

(20th Century Fox)

Jay Chandrasekhar, 95 mins, starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Hefferman, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske

Super Troopers 2 is one of those super-crass comedies that works by attrition. As all the sub-Viz gags about farting, moose shagging, or pinning someone down and trying to shave the hair off their testicles, mount up, the sheer prurience wears you down. You may find yourself laughing once or twice against your better instincts.

The film is set on the Canadian border. “Those stone markers that delineated America from Canada are not where we thought,” the authorities reveal. The hapless Vermont highway patrol officers were long ago sacked for gross incompetence.

Now, they are unaccountably brought back into the force by Governor Jessman (Lynda Carter looking far more severe than in her Wonder Woman days) to introduce a little American-style law and order into St George Du Laurent, a town whose residents have been labouring under the misapprehension they’re Canucks, not Yanks.

Moustaches are foregrounded. Most of the officers wear them and spend an inordinate amount of time preening them. The American patrolmen leave no stereotype or cultural cliche unturned in their bid to mock the Canadians, especially the French-speaking ones.

The Canadians respond in kind, taunting the Americans over their obesity, gun laws and accents. Inevitably, grizzly bears put in an appearance. There are plenty of references to ice hockey – and the stunning deeds on the rink of the local mayor, Guy Le Franc (Rob Lowe.) He’s a narcissistic sleazeball who oversees affairs at the local brothel.

The film opens in idiotic fashion with a prolonged dream sequence in which the super troopers chase down a speeding bus. Inside it, they find their favourite band, Crackled Bacon, smoking dope and jamming in the backseats. The boys try to join in. Cue death and mayhem. Then, we wake up and matters become yet more chaotic.

Brian Cox, last seen on screen playing Winston Churchill, is the boss of the troopers. He is completely dedicated to his job…as long as it doesn’t get in the way of his karaoke singing. It’s a testament to Cox’s skills as a screen actor that he emerges from the film with some of his dignity intact.

The original Super Troopers was made way back in 2001 by the Broken Lizard comedy team. This belated sequel was crowdfunded and has already done roaring business in the US. For all the sniggering and very laddish humour, this is an innocent affair at heart.

Some of its slapstick would have seemed very old-fashioned even in the era of the Keystone Cops. The plotting is on the random side. You have the sense that the gags came first and that the storyline has just been grafted on afterwards. This is also relentlessly gross filmmaking. On average, only one in a dozen jokes is remotely funny but you will find a few comic gems hidden in the muck.

Super Troopers 2 hits UK cinemas 15 June.