Puddle Cruiser | |
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Directed by | Jay Chandrasekhar |
Written by | Broken Lizard |
Produced by | Richard Perello |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Tony Foresta |
Edited by |
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Music by | Jim Kremens |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $160,000 USD |
Puddle Cruiser is a 1996 American comedy film, the first full-length film created by the Broken Lizard comedy group. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie was filmed entirely on the campus of Colgate University, the alma mater of all five members of the comedy quintet. [2] It was released on DVD in December 2005; the disc also features a 17-minute documentary called Rodeo Clowns on the marketing of Puddle Cruiser and Super Troopers with free previews on college campuses and using specially-painted tour buses. The extras and actors are almost entirely friends, family and other alumni, due to the very tight budget of the film. The film is repeatedly shown on Comedy Central. [3]
While breaking in to the Coburn University dining hall, college friends Felix, (Steve Lemme), Matt (Paul Soter), and Grogan (Kevin Heffernan) are discovered by campus police. Felix manages to escape, but Matt and Grogan are caught, and await a disciplinary trial. Felix meets Suzanne (Kayren Butler), the student lawyer assigned to his friend's case, and begins a casual relationship with her. Suzanne is still dating her boyfriend, Traci (Jamison Selby), who is a rugby player at another school. Suzanne attempts to hide her relationship with Felix from Traci, causing Felix to sleep with Jennifer (Laura Arieh), another student. Suzanne becomes angry with Felix for pursuing another woman, while he insists that she is hypocritical, as she is still dating Traci. Matt and Grogan inform Suzanne that Felix was with them on the night they were caught breaking into the dining hall, forcing her to resign from the case, causing a guilty verdict and a community service sentence. Suzanne breaks up with Traci, only to find that he is scheduled to play against the Coburn rugby team. Suzanne begs Felix not to play in the upcoming game for his own safety and attempts to have him removed from the game by reporting his crime to campus police. The attempt is foiled when the players from both teams parody the climactic scene from Spartacus ("I'm Felix Bean!"). He succeeds in playing but is significantly injured by Traci who single-mindedly pursued him for the entire match. He is sentenced to community service during his recovery from the injuries. Felix and Suzanne admit that they love each other, as Felix begins carrying out his community service. Meanwhile, Matt, Grogan, and Freaky Reaky (Erik Stolhanske) are caught later that night stealing food from the kitchen.
It won the 1996 Golden Starfish Award at the 1996 Hamptons International Film Festival where it received a positive review from Variety (magazine) [4] and split the award with Matt Mahurin's Mugshot. [5]
Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012) and the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama, and Disenchantment (2018–2023). The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom.
Boulder is a home rule city in and the county seat of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 census, it is the most-populous city in the county and the 12th-most populous city in Colorado. Boulder is the principal city of the Boulder metropolitan statistical area, which had 330,758 residents in 2020, and is part of the Front Range Urban Corridor.
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Broken Lizard is an American comedy troupe that comprises Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. They collaborate on the screen-writing, acting and productions of their films, with Chandrasekhar and Heffernan being the primary directors; the team however does not have any single leader and they work collaboratively when choosing material and writing projects.
Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar is an American comedian, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken Lizard films Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest and Super Troopers 2. Since 2001, he has also worked frequently as a television director on many episodes of Community and The Goldbergs, among dozens of comedy series. He has also occasionally worked as a film director outside of Broken Lizard projects, most notably on the 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard.
Super Troopers is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by and starring the Broken Lizard comedy group. Marisa Coughlan, Daniel von Bargen and Brian Cox co-star while Lynda Carter has a cameo appearance. In total, Fox Searchlight paid $3.25 million for distribution rights of the film and it grossed $23 million at the box office.
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Big Helium Dog is a 1999 comedy film. It is produced by Kevin Smith's View Askew production company and also features the Broken Lizard comedy troupe in starring and supporting roles.
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Super Troopers 2 is a 2018 American comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. A sequel to the 2001 film Super Troopers, the film was written by and stars the Broken Lizard comedy team, made up of Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. The plot follows the Super Troopers being called upon to set up a new Highway Patrol station when an international border dispute arises between the United States and Canada.
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