I've written in the past about the lack of original ideas in American films. This is meant in no way to imply that American films aren't good, but we rarely see anything truly original. When it comes to comedies, most movies are either straight-ahead "silly" movies, romantic-comedies, or spoofs/satires. That last category usually picks a topic or genre and pokes fun at it. At first glance, the film Super Troopers could be labeled as a satire, as it appears to be making fun of police movies. But, a closer examination of the film shows that it's its own creature.

Super Troopers is set in the small town of Spurbury, Vermont, and focuses on the state troopers who patrol the area. Led by Ramathorn (Jay Chandrasekhar), Troopers Mac (Steve Lemme), Rabbit (Eric Stolhanske), Foster (Paul Soter) do anything that they can to keep from really working. When they aren't playing mind-games with unsuspecting tourists, or fighting with the local police, they are teasing their fellow trooper Farva (Kevin Heffernan), who has been busted down to radio duty. The lives of these slackers are thrown into turmoil when two incidents occur; the first is that a dead body is found in an RV on the side of the road; the second is that the state troopers office is set to be closed due to state budget cuts. So, Captain O'Hagan (Brian Cox) urges the troopers to begin taking things seriously, solve the murder, and save their jobs. Can this group of slackers get the job done?

Super Troopers was made by a comedy troupe which calls themselves Broken Lizard. Comprised of Chandrasekhar, Lemme, Stolhanske, Soter, and Heffernan, the group made the movie on their own and sold it at Sundance. They then toured college campuses to promote the movie. It was released in the spring of 2002, and did fairly well. However, the movie gained a true cult following on home video.

Again, at first glance, Super Troopers appears to be a satire, but it isn't. It also looks like a stoner movie, but it's not really that either. While the film is far from original (the screwups who have to rally themselves premise is very old-hat), the movie does manage to walk a fine-line between several different genres. While there are many jokes about the police and their behavior, it never really skewers police films. There are a few raunchy moments, but it never wanders into T&A territory. Characters drink and use drugs, but it's not like a "party" movie. So, what is it?

The bottom line is that Super Troopers is a very funny movie, no matter what genre you attempt to lump it into. While there are some funny "situations" here (the bear scene, the gun-range scene), most of the humor comes from the characters themselves. The Broken Lizard guys have clearly made a conscience effort to give the characters individual personalities; Ramathorn attempts to be the serious one; Mac is the crazy one; Foster is the romantic; Rabbit, the rookie, just tries to keep up; and Farva, is the butt of all of the jokes. In the end, Farva steals the show and if you don't love to hate Farva, then you won't appreciate Super Troopers at all.

So, while the story in Super Troopers is not going to set the world on fire, the jokes will certainly put a smile on your face. The movie offers some physical comedy, some gross-out stuff, and some generally silliness. However, the bulk of the comedy comes from quick one-liners which are very quotable. There's a rumor that Broken Lizard is working on Super Troopers 2. If this is true, I can't wait.