COLUMN: ‘Troopers’ offers questionale laughs
The Motion Picture Association of America must be relaxing the rating standards surrounding full-frontal male nudity, because midway through Super Troopers I was privy to Kevin Hefferman’s (Officer Rodney Farva) nakedness. Normally, as in the case of the 1994 Bruce Willis bomb The Color of Night, if a man’s part was flashed, even for a few seconds, the dreaded NC-17 guillotine was rolled into place.
However, upon more investigation I found that if male nudity is sexual or, let’s say, Viagra-enhanced, then you can bet that film will face an NC-17 rating or need to make cuts. In the case of Super Troopers, penis flashing to make us laugh, giggle and dry heave are just fine and dandy.
Not to me, folks. I’m sorry, but Hefferman’s Jimmy Dean scene was revolting. Save the wieners for the baseball game. I’m still a bit shaky from the flashing. I never saw it coming, and for the record, let me state that it took all my strength to not launch vomit into Trav’s slushy.
As for any females that believe I’m sexist, I’m almost positive that women asking for equal opportunity nude scenes would rethink their stance after watching Hefferman reveal his loins.
Despite the momentary glimpse of manly flesh, Super Troopers is funny as hell. I laughed out loud, slapped my leg, clapped my hands and was delighted at the freshness and originality of its comedy. Hollywood’s smooth glamour and hype are completely absent. Likewise, it’s free of overpaid actors, and does not include a soundtrack chock full of Brittney Spears ballads. Super Troopers is amateur, grainy and rough. This coarseness makes the film unique, and it’s easy to grasp why the film was accepted to the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.
I can’t quite nail it down, but watching Super Troopers was similar to viewing old Saturday Night Live episodes. The camaraderie between the five main characters – Officers Farva (Kevin Hefferman), Foster (Paul Soter), Womack (Steve Lemme), Roto (Eric Stolhanske), and Ramathorn (Chandrasekhar) – is more than evident in the perfect timing of dialogue and comedic action. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because all five actors are friends, attended Colgate University together, and formed the group (Broken Lizard) credited for the film’s writing.
It’s not the greatest cinematic production ever conceived, nor is the film one of the funniest to hit theaters. I can think of many recent comedies I enjoyed more than Super Troopers.