Puddle Cruiser Reviews

Puddle Cruiser is an amiable, but aimless college comedy which served as the film debut of the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, who would go on to make Super Troopers. Both films were directed by troupe member Jay Chandrasekar. Puddle Cruiser is a little less polished than Super Troopers, but it has some of the same loose-limbed, laid-back charm. The film is at its best in scenes where the entire group is together. They seem to genuinely enjoy each other, and their efforts to amuse one another give the film a mild bonhomie. They're also intimately familiar with their eastern liberal arts school milieu, leading to more than a few moments of chuckle-inducing verisimilitude. The comedic highlight of the film is a sequence in which Emily (Alison Clapp) has a nightmare about seeing the class stoner, Freaky Reaky (Erik Stolhanske), everywhere. The romantic comedy story line is less successful, particularly as it pointlessly devolves into a sloppy, cliché-ridden sports comedy, focused on a rugby match, on which nothing is really at stake. Steve Lemme is adequate in the lead, but the troupe was wise to devote more screen time to other troupe members (Chandrasekar, Kevin Heffernan, and Paul Soter), and less time to the routine plot machinations in their follow-up.