I love an R-rated comedy. We don’t get enough of them, and hey, I grew up on lemon popsicles, by which I mean teen sex comedies, as well as Police Academy and all of its many descendants.
Remember when that gang of Vermont state troopers won over our hearts by meowing, playing the license-and-registration game, and making us all crave syrup? That was 2001. Now, twenty-five years after the original cult hit—and eight years since they dragged us to Canada for the second installment—the Broken Lizard gang is back with Super Troopers 3 (or Super Troopers 3: Farva’s Wedding, if you’re reading the on-screen title).
Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar), Mac (Steve Lemme), Foster (Paul Soter), Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) and Farva (Kevin Heffernan) are back in uniform. Two months ago, Farva saved Thorny’s sister, Sarita (Hannah Simone), from a car crash—a hero move that somehow ended with them getting engaged. Thorny is convinced Farva is still a psychotic scumbag and spends the whole movie trying to sabotage the upcoming nuptials before his sister makes a massive mistake.
Meanwhile, the barracks are dealing with a whole slew of chaos, as a new drug epidemic known as Canadian Crystal is hitting the streets. Foster freaks out over buying a house with Ursula (Marisa Coughlan), leading to a breakup. Captain Markowski (Nat Faxon) has come to take over for the retiring Captain John O’Hagan (Brian Cox), and Mac is test-driving the department’s new AI-equipped Electric Car (voiced by Will Sasso).
The villains? The wedding planners—former pot dealers Steve and Baker Buchanan (Jon Rudnitsky and Chace Crawford) and their cousin Bettie (Lisa Gilroy)—who are running the drug ring with help from — spoiler warning, but you’ll see it immediately — rookie trooper Coy (Andrew Dismukes).
What follows is a chaotic climax featuring an elephant statue packed with a drug-fueled bachelor party, followed by a triple wedding and even the tease of Super Troopers 4: The Search for O’Hagan’s Gold.
If you go into Super Troopers 3 expecting Caddyshack or Animal House, you’re looking at the wrong map. But if you’ve been following Broken Lizard since Puddle Cruiser or Club Dread, you know what you’re getting.
Jay Chandrasekhar keeps the pacing fast, and Kevin Heffernan steals every scene he’s in—Farva trying to charm his prospective in-laws (Iqbal Theba and Sakina Jaffrey) is pure awesome. Adding Nat Faxon as the hallucinating captain and Will Sasso as the voice of an overly caring electric vehicle adds just enough absurdity to keep things moving. Is it lazy in places? Sure. Does it recycle a few beats from the first two? Absolutely. But there’s an inherent charm to watching a comedy troupe that genuinely likes working together, twenty-five years later. It feels like an afternoon spent hanging out at your local video store’s comedy section.
It might not be super-duper, but if you’re a fan of the Lizard boys, grab a bottle of syrup and meow.
