Puddle Cruiser

Most everyone on IMDb has been bashing this movie, saying that "it's nothing like Super Troopers or Club Dread" when, in all reality, it has the SAME exact humor as either of those movies. Kevin Hefferman is comic gold along with the rest of the Broken Lizard Comedy Group and this was not a disappointing buy for me simply because I love their material and this was nothing different from their normal humor. So stop listening to all the critics, go out and rent it, and form an opinion for yourself. Then, after viewing it first-hand, you can form your own opinion based upon what you actually saw, instead of what everyone on IMDb says about the movie. Now that's all I have to say, and I just need this stuff to fill my 10 lines necessary to post on the page.

This flick highlights the comedic skills of the broken lizard troop and is a must see for any fan. It is my personal favorite of the three films the troupe has made and it is every bit as funny as Super Troopers if not more so. Steve Lemme is excellent as the romantic lead a different role than he has played in the other films. Erik Stolhanske is also incredibly funny as the trippy Freaky Reaky. The story is simple, but the writing fully makes up for it. It is incredibly dialogue driven and original. An excellent debut film and it must be noted that without they probably wouldn't have been able to make Super Trooper so all of their fans owe a big debt of gratitude to this little scene indy.

Puddle Cruiser was my "Introduction" to the Broken Lizards. I saw the film in 2004 at a film festival that my wife talked me into attending. I had never heard of the Broken Lizards and was frankly not too excited about going. To cap it off, we didn't have a sitter for my 4 month old son, so I had to hold him for 2 hours. It was well worth it. The movie was great. It was filmed at their old college campus on a very low budget. It's raw, funny, absurd, ridiculous and enjoyable. With so much junk being produced now, it was a true break from mainstream crap. It's genuine art and not a bunch of clichés. See this movie and everything these guys make! By the way, I have NEVER rated a movie a "10". An "8" is pretty good.

Like a lot of people on IMDb, I saw Super Troopers first and laughed my *ss off, thinking these guys were the second coming of Monty Python or something. Then I saw Club Dread, which had a significantly higher budget and more studio support, and I was certainly let down. So when I saw Puddle Cruiser on the shelf, I thought this might be the holy grail of Broken Lizard movies: an early effort in which these guys' talents could really shine, without being overpowered by the production.

But alas this sluggish, only sporadically amusing film brings to light one glaring fact about the BL team: these guys may be charismatic and talented, but writing is NOT their strong suit. This script is simply not funny, and no amount of natural comedic talent can cover that up. That makes it all the clearer why Super Troopers worked so well, while Club Dread didn't. Just compare the scripts, and you'll see that one is full of great jokes and situations ripe with comedic possibility, while the other is more of a premise than anything else.

So while Puddle Cruiser is a charming look at the roots of these guys' collegiate comedy bond, it is far from a solid film. Watch it for the nostalgia value, and hope these guys put as much effort into their future scripts as they did on Super Troopers.

Super Troopers was an instant classic. Club Dread, while disappointing to many, had its moments. Puddle Cruisers has fewer moments. I saw this movie on the shelf of my local video store and saw at the bottom that it was made by the Broken Lizard group who made Super Troopers, so naturally I picked it up. I only found one scene to be laugh out loud funny. A far cry from Super Troopers. All in all, I was very disappointed. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you have an abundance of free time, and really need to kill some time. However, you're better off playing video games, or watching something that might make you laugh or think.