Surprise! It’s 2017 and maybe everything doesn’t have to be terrible. As a show of good faith, ish, Warner Bros. has released the first official trailer for CHIPS, a feature length comedic adaptation of the 1970s-80s NBC TV drama. And if you weren’t thinking 21 Jumpstreet when you heard about the project, you sure will be now. Like the original series, CHIPS sees officer Jon Baker and officer Frank “Ponch” Poncherello paired off as motorcycle cop partners in the California Highway Patrol based out of Los Angeles. The twist this time out, Poncherello is a cocky undercover Federal agent investigating a multi-million dollar heist that may be an inside job—inside the CHP, while Baker is a former pro motorbiker trying to put his life and marriage back together.
I laughed a lot during the trailer, though I hope the jokes as seen here function more as subversions than outright heteronormative conditioning. And I’m in for Shepard and Peña riffing for a couple of hours regardless, especially on motorcycles and especially on the streets of L.A. The film is directed by Dax Shepard, who stars as John Baker opposite Michael Peña as Ponch, alongside Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Brody, Rosa Salazar, Vida Guerra, and Kristen Bell. Shepard also wrote the script for CHIPS, which is set to hit theaters March 24 in Los Angeles. Oh, and everywhere else too of course.
