Turning late 1970's cop show CHiPs into a movie might have seemed like a risky stab at re-inventing something today's younger audiences might not know much about beyond some Ponch-related pop culture references. But nostalgia remains a driving force, so here's Dax Shepard and Michael Peña squeezing into the brown motorcycle duds for an R-rated comedy movie version, which has a first trailer out.
Shepard (who also wrote and directed the movie) plays Jon Baker, an injury-prone pro motorcyclist looking to fix his broken marriage (if not some of his broken bones) by joining up with the California Highway Patrol in Los Angeles. He's partnered with Frank "Ponch" Poncherello (Peña), who has his own reasons for signing up: Ponch is actually an undercover Federal agent looking to take down a suspected gang of crooked cops who may be pulling off heists.
Can this unlikely duo put their clear differences aside and work as a unit? Our guess is eventually, but as the trailer shows, the film wants to mine a lot of comedy from their approaches to the law and bikes. And for the most part, it's very, very silly looking comedy.
With Kristen Bell (AKA Dax's better half), Adam Brody and Vincent D'Onofrio in the cast, CHiPs, or CHIPS as the movie appears to prefer, will screech into UK cinemas on 24 March.