“Heather and Puggly Drop a Deuce” is one of three Chris Seaver movies to be released this year. Using the characters from the earlier Low Budget Picture “12 inches of Dangling Fury” Heather and Puggly (played by Meredith Host and Lauren Puschkin), Seaver tells a story about a desperately lonely lesbian outcast who seeks companionship in a very deceptive lover, despite the loving attempts by her friends to keep her from harm. It’s also a story about farting, menstrual blood, Texans, Indians, and nasty nasty sex. Like all Chris Seaver films, it has an actual premise that relies on human weakness and insecurities, and it is an ultimately uplifting film about the love of friends and family, it just happens to also be sickeningly foul and incredibly funny. By infusing his films with an actual plot, despite the gore, violence, and nauseatingly inappropriate language, Seaver can make a “Low Budget Picture” that’s very entertaining but that still has a point.
Puggly is a geeky lesbian freak in high school. Her older sister Heather is a cooler, albeit sexually frustrated, youth. Unbeknownst to Puggly, her best friend Shemp is desperately in love with her, but cannot bring herself to confess her feelings. Puggly seeks love elsewhere. When Puggly runs into the beautiful Venus in a comic book store, she can’t believe her luck. Not only is Venus a hot chick, but she likes “Danger Girl” comics and she wants to sleep with Puggly! Heather and Shemp suspect the worst (it’s just too good to be true) and set out to save Puggly from Venus’ villainous grasp. Because they’re right: there is something strange about Venus, and they’re the only ones who can stop her…
With the introduction of a few new characters like Proudfoot (Shawn Green), the rocking Native American, Meistro the Texan (Matt Meister), Dad (Doug Sakman), the queerly gay T-Bone McCloud (Jason McCall), Heather and Puggly’s menstruating Mom (Debbie Rochon), and Venus the evil seductress, “Heather and Puggly” is no disappointment to fans of Seaver’s previous films. You also get the return of Teen Ape, Johnny Douchebag (Chris Seaver), plus the same sick sense of humor and offensive, but inventive, dialogue. Seaver definitely pushes the limits of what is entertaining, but those who are Seaver fans will find that this film is one of his best.
Lauren Puschkin as Puggly is awesome, resourceful, and crass. Meredith Host provides much needed seriousness in the character of Heather and grounds the film with her toned-down acting. She’s a great contrast to the over-the-top Lauren, Chris Seaver, and Teen Ape. Shemp (Maria Kretschman) as a character is relatively uninteresting and so badly acted you have to wonder if it was deliberate or just a terrible terrible accident. Debbie Rochon is only onscreen for a small time, but she’s marvelous at comedy and really gets to show the audience how funny she can be.
As all Seaver’s movies are, “Heather and Puggly” is cartoonish, over-animated, yet decidedly well directed and edited. Each shot, each joke, each nuance of the actors seems so consistent throughout his film it’s impossible not to see that he’s planned everything out well. He knows what he’s doing. Chris has a deliberate vision for each of his films and he never wavers from it.
Puggly’s quest for acceptance and love is supplemented by the funniest chick-on-chick sex scene I’ve ever witnessed, some great ska music, and what I consider some very ground-breaking editing on the part of Mr. Seaver. “Heather and Puggly” is technically superior to some of its Low Budget predecessors, and it’s really incredibly f*****g funny too.
