By Chris Preovolos
San Francisco Chronicle
Ponch and Jon are back.
The film adaptation of the best/worst television show to have ever simultaneously won a time slot over “Welcome Back, Kotter,” “Good Times” and “What’s Happening!!” is set to hit theaters March 24.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “CHiPs” stars Michael Peña as California Highway Patrol Officer Francis Llewellyn “Ponch” Poncherello alongside costar and writer/director Dax Shepard as Officer Jon Baker. Swapping the Kawasakis from the original series for the modern BMW R1200RT-P, the bikes also play a central role in the film, of course.
(When the pair showed up on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to drop the film’s first trailer Wednesday night though, they were riding a couple of Ducati Hypermotards. But we won’t hold a little product placement against them.)
According to the studio, “CHiPs” vaguely follows the plot themes of the first season, pairing the rookie Ponch with the squared-away Baker as his training officer. Absurd two-wheeled shenanigans (and possibly Southern California watersports in short shorts?) are bound to follow.
What we do know from the trailer is that “CHiPs” is chock full of wheelies, lane splitting, pyrotechnics and possibly some acting. There’s even an RV being blown apart in slow motion — a tribute to just about every code-3 pursuit on the Santa Ana Freeway from the original series.
Rounding out the cast are Kristen Bell (Shepard’s real-life wife), Rosa Salazar, Adam Brody, Jessica McNamee, Ryan Hansen, David Koechner, Michael K. Williams and villain Vincent D’Onofrio.
Sadly, according to IMDB, none of the original actors reprise their roles, so all we can hope is that the film will be as exquisitely cheesy as the series, but that’s a tall order.