Say goodbye to summer with "Party Boat," but stick with Crackle for free streaming

“Party Boat” is about a bunch of people who like to party. On a boat.

There’s a little more to the bro-com that filmed on and around Lake Lanier but more compelling than the plot is the distribution model. The movie about buddies Max and Sean (Brett Davern and College Park native Demetrius Bridges) whose luxury liner is the location for hijinks, heartbreak, epic water-gun and bartender showdowns, debuted first on Sony PlayStation models before rolling out via Crackle, Sony Pictures Television Networks’ free streaming service. The method will be familiar to anyone who’s made the transition from destination television watching to Netflix or Hulu bingeing, but with Crackle, there’s no fee involved. Just download it and start watching.

It’s not a new service, but it’s one still finding its place among the growing galaxy of streaming-service stars. Esquire captured the race for streaming dominance with an article last year titled “What’s the Deal with Crackle, the Streaming Platform You’ve Never Heard Of?”

It actually started in 2007 after Sony purchased Grouper and then rebranded it, as a repository of Sony content before segueing into original programming. Its best-known content includes

Jerry Seinfeld’s  “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” which is about comedians who get coffee. In cars. (We’re detecting a certain straightforwardness.)

“I love it. As far as technology, we’re moving so fast,” Bridges told us during an interview to promote the movie “We’re becoming spoiled now. It’s hard for me to watch certain shows on television. With streaming services you can just hit it. Crackle’s so cool because it’s free.”

So his friends have zero excuse not to watch it, he quipped.

Bridges has worked on other locally filmed projects, including the CW series “The Vampire Diaries” and “Containment” and feature film “The Duff.” With streaming-service content occupying a key role in Georgia’s filming landscape—the Netflix hit “Stranger Things” is up for 18 Emmy awards—Bridges is keen to be starring in a Crackle original.

“It’s available if you look at your phone, tablet, laptop,” he said.

Download Crackle here .