History Film / CHiPs

* ShoutOut: [[Film/BackToTheFuture "Where we're gong, we don't need doors."]]

* InTouchWithHisFeminineSide: Jon is very in to introspection and talking through his and other people's problems, and is clearly enthusiastic about the couples therapy sessions he's attended with his wife. WordOfGod describes him as embodying feminine ideals to contrast the emotionally closed-off Ponch.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Jon is an outstanding motorcyclist... and utterly incompetent at nearly everything else.

** Ponch meticulously crimps in front of the mirror with several facial scrubs and hair mousses while Jon runs some water through his hair in a public bathroom.

** Ponch accidentally shooting his former FBI partner.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Jon is emotional and obsessed with playing armchair psychologist to others whereas Ponch is gung-ho and very guarded about his feelings. This is also reflected in their respective romantic dealings, with Jon remaining obsessed with getting back together with his estranged wife and Ponch being a sex addict willing to sleep with AnythingThatMoves so long as he can get off.

* DirtyOldMan: Ponch's supervisor, Special Agent Peterson, is a CovertPervert example. While he's always harping on Ponch for sleeping around at the expense of his work, he ''also'' constantly brings up all the "sweet LA booty" that Ponch is at risk of being distracted by during his time in the city.

** Ponch's supervisor talking about all of the "hot LA booty" Ponch could get distracted by.

* DirtyCop: Officer Kurtz (D'Onofrio) is the ringleader of the armoured truck robberies.

* BenevolentBoss: While Kurtz is a ruthless brute of a man, he is also shown to be very loving toward his son and to have earned the love and trust of his subordinates.

* ByTheBookCop: Jon Baker is an unusual case in that his obsession with following the rules is very much justified by him being given his badge on a probationary basis, meaning that he'll be kicked out of the force the ''second'' his conduct drops below the 90th percentile.

* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Jon constantly encourages Ponch to be more reflective on his life and feelings to overcome his personal problems, but it is ultimately Ponch who points out to Jon that his fixation on getting back together with his wife is in fact a subconscious projection of his unwillingness to move beyond his motocross past.

* CowboyCop: Castillo/Ponch gets the job done but he also annoys the ''shit'' out of [[DaChief his FBI boss]], played by [[Series/TheWire Isiah Whitlock, Jr.]] (he even [[TrialByFriendlyFire shoots his partner]] when he's taken hostage in the opening sequence after the criminal overpowers him while being arrested). His recklessness later costs him his FBI job when he tracks down Kurtz's son and ends up not only ruining a DEA sting operation (and in the process accidentally [[CallBack shoots his FBI partner ''again'']]), but gets Kurtz's son killed as well (see OffWithHisHead). And that's ''before'' he accidentally sexts his ''boss'', Captain Lindel ([[Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle Jane Kaczmarek]])...

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Jon is a guileless stooge obsessed with earning the love of an estranged with who clearly couldn't care less about him, can barely walk without consuming a cocktail of medications, gets sick simply from being in another person's house, and is unable to shoot a completely stationary target, but he's also a former professional stunt biker who is close to unstoppable when riding. His encyclopedic knowledge of motorcycles also enables him to identify the make and model of a bike simply from the sound of its engine, while his detail-oriented personality lets him pull off a SherlockScan while investigating crime scenes.

* DesignatedGirlFight: [[spoiler: Donwplayed; while Perez ends up being the one to take Taylor down, the extent of their fight is the former tackling the latter.]]
* {{Determinator}}: Jon Baker, survivor of a dozen motorcross injuries, takes a handful of painkillers every morning just to get through the ''tryouts'' for the CHP, all just to salvage his relationship.

* FunctionalAddict: Jon is unable to move without taking painkillers by the handful, due to his long list of motocross-related injuries. Ponch speculates that he's undergoing the beginnings of an opioid addiction after learning that he only has bowel movements once every two weeks.
* GoldDigger: Karen is implied to be this; all of the photos with Jon while he was still a motocross champion have her holding his trophies as though they were her own and the impetus of her kicking him out of their house was him losing his sponsors.

* RichesToRags: Jon is a former freestyle motocross star whose wife (Bell) left him after he lost all his sponsors. He still lives at his home, but his wife's exiled him to the guest house. Later, Karen sells the house without telling Jon, who comes back "home" to see the new owner moving in.

* WhiteDwarfStarlette: Jon is a subdued example. While he almost never brings up his GloryDays as a champion stunt biker, his home is filled with pictures from the time, and his fixation on getting back together with his wife Karen is implied to be a subconscious way for him to continue clinging to his past. [[spoiler: When Ponch points this out to him, he's finally able to make the breakthrough he needs to move on.]]

* WhiteDwarfStarlett: Jon is a subdued example. While he almost never brings up his GloryDays as a champion stunt biker, his home is filled with pictures from the time, and his fixation on getting back together with his wife Karen is implied to be a subconscious way for him to continue clinging to his past. [[spoiler: When Ponch points this out to him, he's finally able to make the breakthrough he needs to move on.]]

* NotSoAboveItAll: Ponch generally plays StraightMan to the more bumbling Jon, but ends up being the dead weight whenever his sex addiction or mediocre motorcycling skills come into play. Of particular note is a scene in which he becomes so distracted by a pair of women in yoga pants that he becomes fully erect and needs Jon to escort him to the nearest bathroom. And this was immediately after he had lectured Jon for not being focused on their mission!

* PaintedOnPants: Ponch loses all focus whenever he sees a woman wearing tight-fitting yoga pants. In particular, the sight of a woman in Lulu Lemons, which he describes as "wrapping on a woman's body", causes him to [[RagingStiffie immediately become fully erect]].

The film follows FBI Agent Castillo (Peña) as he is sent undercover in the California Highway Patrol as "Ponch" to investigate a series of armoured truck robberies that the FBI suspects involves CHP officers (who are, in fact, a crew of CHP officers led by Officer Ray Kurtz (D'Onofrio). There he partners with Jon Baker (Shepard), a former motocross star and probationary CHP officer, and together they investigate the case while Baker remains unaware of Ponch's true identity.

* ATeamFiring: Baker fires an entire magazine at one of the robbers while they're both standing still and ''doesn't hit anything''. [[OhCrap Then the robber pulls out his own gun...]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Baker is uncomfortably honest about everything, gives away personal details like it's small talk, is incredibly eccentric and has an expertise in motorcycles.
* AnythingThatMoves: Ponch is shown to sleep with just about any woman with a pulse, which only further fuels Baker's speculation that Ponch has a sex addiction.

* AwesomeByAnalysis: Baker's motorcycle expertise comes in handy when he's able to identify the exact make and model of the bikes used in the robbery from a cell phone video taken of the robbers riding away, based on the engine noise and the ''type'' of bike identified from eyewitness accounts. In fact, he's not even ''looking'' at the video when he does this.
* BadassBiker: As a former stunt driving champion, Jon is unmatched when it comes to riding a motorcycle. This, combined with his sergeant sympathizing with his conflict with his wife, is what allows him to become a CHP officer despite otherwise doing terribly in all of his other preliminary exams. Subverted by Ponch, who, while competent enough on a bike to keep up with Jon on the highway, is unable to do any of the off-road or stunt driving that his partner can.

* BilingualBackfire: While riding in the ambulance at the end, Baker asks Ponch and the paramedic to speak in Spanish so he won't understand what they're saying about him while he's making out with Officer Perez. It backfires hilariously when they start talking about how hot Perez is and whether Baker "eats ass" and Perez scolds them because ''she speaks Spanish, too''.
* BrickJoke: Castillo shooting his partner Clay Allen. More than once.

* DivorceIsTemporary: Subverted. Karen looks like she wants to rekindle her marriage with Baker at the end and asks to ride in the ambulance with him, but Baker turns her down, stating that she's "kind of a dick".

** [[spoiler: Grieves refuses to abandon Kurtz (his uncle) when he is being pursued by Ponch and Baker, and goes against his orders of returning to the safe house to assist him in escaping them.]]

* FunctionalAddict: Baker is unable to move without taking painkillers by the handful, due to his long list of motocross-related injuries.

* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler:Castillo has to be sworn into the CHP to take on Kurtz. He doesn't take it back at the end.]]
* IHaveYourWife: Kurtz takes Baker's wife hostage in the film's climax.

* RealityEnsues: Castillo’s opening case (and his career) are in major jeopardy due to his [[ItsPersonal grudge]] against the suspect, [[ShootTheHostage shooting his partner to get the suspect]], [[FromBadToWorse naked pictures of the suspect’s wife on his phone]], [[DiggingYourselfDeeper his own dick pics on her phone]], and [[UpToEleven his admission of having had sex with said wife. Multiple times]].

* RichesToRags: Baker is a former freestyle motocross star whose wife (Bell) left him after he lost all his sponsors. He still lives at his home, but his wife's exiled him to the guest house. Later, Karen sells the house without telling Baker, who comes back "home" to see the new owner moving in.

* SexAddiction: Baker repeatedly offers Ponch unsolicited advice on him possibly having a sex addiction.

* AssholeVictim: Karen treats John horribly, even for exes, so her getting tazed in her swimming pool, kidnapped, and held hostage is not entirely undeserved.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Kurtz is robbing the trucks in order to raise money to get his drug-addicted son out of Los Angeles and into treatment.

* MadeOfIron: Kurtz - a bad shot from Jon hits the same door-busting explosives they used on ''an armored van'', right next to him - and he survives!

* YourCheatingHeart: Ponch repeatedly offers Baker unsolicited advice on whether his wife is cheating on him (which she very obviously is).

* ComedyOfRemarriage: Subverted. Karen looks like she wants to rekindle her marriage with Baker at the end and asks to ride in the ambulance with him, but Baker turns her down, stating that she's "kind of a dick".

* BuryYourGays: The PlotTriggeringDeath involves the DirtyCop ringleader [[YouHaveFailedMe threatening one of his men with the life of his gay lover.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: Kurtz forces helicopter pilot Parrish to commit suicide by jumping out of his helicopter as punishment for stealing from him after a previous heist by holding his partner (and lover) hostage.

* ChekhovsGun: One of Jon's arm bones has to be held together with titanium. The kind strong enough to ''deflect bullets.''