CHiPS Movie Review: Has Little To Do With Original TV Show

Empty Lighthouse is a reader-supported site. This article may contain affiliate links to Amazon and other sites. We earn a commission on purchases made through these links.

CHiPs was an old TV show that started back in 1977. It followed the characters of Jon Baker and Frank "Ponch" Poncherello.

Both of them worked on the California Highway Patrol also known as the CHP. It was a classic TV show loved by many people who watched it back in the day

Now we have a new Hollywood version of the film written and directed by Dax Shepard.

Shepard stars as Jon Baker while the usually funny Michael Pena stars as Frank "Ponch" Poncherello. The casting was done right, although aside from that nothing else resembles the TV show at all

The only thing that fans will recognize is the iconic theme that plays throughout the movie.

The tone and story is nothing like the TV show as the humor is somewhat controversial, vulgar and rude.

This type of humor was prevalent back in the '90s and early '00s, although people today may not like the jokes now in 2017.

The movie also has the audacity to somewhat change the origin of Frank "Ponch" Poncherello.

He's now an FBI agent working undercover at the CHP and is partnered with Jon Baker who has just joined the unit on his first day.

The story is your usual cliche buddy cop story. The pair has to find out about corrupt cops that are working in their own CHP unit while Poncherello initially has to keep his role in the FBI secret.

Obviously things don't go as planned as these two aren't the best law enforcers out there. The pair however do get along at the end despite their differences at the start of the movie

The humor is what should have been the best thing about CHiPs, but instead it's of an "acquired taste" variety.

I feel this humor is more appropriate for those that grew up watching MTV in the '00s with shows like The Tom Green Show and more.

There are some jokes that might not be for everyone's taste.

They touch upon Baker accusing Ponch for being homophobic while there are a lot of other scenes talking about the male genitalia. That being said, there are several moments where I laughed so the humor isn't 100 percent bad.

The movie is also fast paced as there are some impressive stunts and bike chases in the film.

Not to mention the cast is pretty cool as Adam Brody, Kristen Bell and Jane Kaczmarek are all in this and are pretty funny in their limited roles.

Not to mention original CHiPs cast member Erik Estrada makes a cameo at the end.

As a whole, CHiPs the movie isn't going to be a great film for those that grew up watching the original TV show.

This movie is more catered towards the MTV generation of the late '90s and early '00s. The movie isn't great, although I have to admit it was funny in several scenes.

Verdict: 2.5/5

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: American Fox Channel To Remake New Zealand TV Series Called 'Filthy Rich' (more); The Length Of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk Movie Has Been Revealed (more); Rotten Tomatoes Rating For Transformers: The Last Knight Is Horrendous (more); Transformers: The Last Knight Aiming For Over $70 Million At The Box Office Weekend (more).

And here are some more related articles: X-Men: Dark Phoenix Receives A Director; Big Stars Also Return (more); Danny Elfman Overtaking Junkie XL As Justice League Movie Composer (more); Venom Movie Confirmed Not To Be A Part Of The MCU (more).

A few more: Early Cars 3 Rotten Tomatoes Rating Speeds Out (more); Why Julie Andrews Is Not Appearing In Mary Poppins Returns (more).

Warner Bros.