The fact that Super Troopers 3 exists is puzzling. That Super Troopers 3 exists as a theatrical release by Disney subsidiary Searchlight Pictures is nothing short of a total anomaly. 2001’s Super Troopers hardly broke the box office open on its release, nor did it inspire especially glowing reviews. Like a lot of films of the early to mid 2000s “late night comedy” ilk – often vulgar, semi-improvisational hangout movies best enjoyed in an altered state of mind – it caught a major cult following. Some of this was due to its central conceit of Vermont Highway Patrol officers acting like prank-happy teenagers.
The lion’s share of the enduring appeal of Super Troopers comes from its starring comedy troupe Broken Lizard, consisting of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. Their crude but good-natured antics carried them forward into other films like Club Dread, The Slammin’ Salmon, and my personal favorite, Beerfest, all of which have their own varying level of following.
By the time the belated follow-up to the film that started it all, Super Troopers 2, came around in 2018, the routine had run dry. It showed in the modest box office and negative reviews. Yet somehow, in 2026, Super Troopers 3 has arrived and y’know what? It sort of works, presenting an unassuming hangout comedy that doesn’t rise to the level of Broken Lizard’s finest but contains enough character-based yucks to recommend to longtime fans.
Super Troopers 3 is for the fans.
Unlike the tired retread that Super Troopers 2 was, Super Troopers 3, directed by star Jay Chandrasekhar, has a really fun premise. When Sarita (Hannah Simone), the sister of Senior Trooper Arcot “Thorny” Ramathorn (Chandrasekhar), comes to stay with him, he’s in for a rude awakening when she falls in love with his oafish fellow trooper Rod Farva (Kevin Heffernan).
When she announces plans to marry Farva, Thorny makes it his mission to break up their wedding by any means possible. Elsewhere, the rest of the troopers look into a new drug coming down from the Canadian border, suspecting a mischievous pair of brothers (Chace Crawford and Jon Rudnitsky) as the culprits.
The central dynamic is inspired, putting the usually carefree Ramathorn on a collision course with the fan-favorite obnoxious wrecking ball that is Farva. Unfortunately, a lot of the first act of Super Troopers 3 is pure dead air. Joke after joke flies by without a chuckle.
The first act of the film struggles with its landing, with many of the jokes left for dead.
This isn’t due to any manner of offensive content – the Broken Lizard style of humor has aged better than most of their contemporaries – or the rampant joke recycling that Super Troopers 2 was plagued with. More so, it’s that the humor and the cast just seem very tired. Thankfully, this is just the crew stretching their legs.
The script by Broken Lizard, of which surprisingly little is improvised despite a pronounced loose feel, gets frequently very funny. A lot of this is enhanced by the cast just knowing their characters so well that they can maximize every set-up.
Kevin Heffernan as Rod Farva continues to be a wildly entertaining walking catastrophe, only this time Jay Chandrasekhar really gets to bounce off of him by employing a seething, cartoonish rage. His discontent is only heightened by the continued delight of his mother (Sakina Jaffrey) and father (surprise MVP Iqbal Theba) at Farva’s antics. This alone is enough to sustain a passable afternoon at the movies.
While the cast knows their characters inside and out and performs well, Iqbal Theba is the true MVP.
Thorny trying to unsuccessfully break up his sister and Farva’s marriage is accompanied by a slew of other very funny bits. The very socially conscious new chief (Nate Faxon) being convinced by the fellow troopers that he’s actually bigoted is a great running bit.
Meanwhile, Trooper Foster (Steve Lemme) having a love-hate relationship with his electric car and 25-year-deep rookie Rabbit (Erik Stolhanske) being upstaged by the new rookie in town (Andrew Dismukes) work almost as well. The film’s central comedic set piece- a bachelor party gone horribly wrong- is nearly as good as anything in the original film.
Unfortunately, the film’s villains are sort of just there and add little.
There are plenty of misses, but after a certain point the hits stack up to a respectable degree. There are some glaring areas hung out to dry, though. Trooper Foster (Paul Soter) gets very little to do, for example. Brian Cox (Succession) is reduced to a cameo, and the villain characters played by Chace Crawford (The Boys) and Jon Rudnitsky fail to add any flavor.
At the end of the day, though, Super Troopers 3 made me smile. Legendary critic Roger Ebert once said of the original film that “it’s the kind of movie that makes you want to like it”. That very much extends here. No one’s going to put this film on their year-end best list, nor on their best comedy of 2026 list. For the Broken Lizard faithful who have kept this franchise somehow going, it’s like seeing old friends after a long time away. Even though no one’s as sharp as they used to be, you’ll still have a good laugh.
Super Troopers 3 is in theaters August 7, 2026.
Super Troopers 3
6/10
TL;DR
For the Broken Lizard faithful who have kept this franchise somehow going, Super Troopers 3 is like seeing old friends after a long time away. Even though no one’s as sharp as they used to be, you’ll still have a good laugh.