Backseat

Overeducated and underemployed, Ben (Bogue) is trapped in a love-hate relationship with hot-to-trot girlfriend Shelle (Aubrey Dollar), while aspiring actor Colton (Alexander) lives to party and pick up one-night stands. Their guys-only trip to Montreal is driven by Colton's determination to meet Donald Sutherland, and it's a squabblefest from the moment Colton gets a look at the battered station wagon Ben borrowed from his uncle: "It's a chick deterrent," he wails. And then there's the matter of the kilo of cocaine Colton promised a friend he'd smuggle across the border: Ben flatly refuses to drive into Canada with drugs in the car. They have car trouble and wind up at a rundown Albany motel, where Colton's amateurish efforts to find a buyer for the coke alerts thuggish front-desk clerk Andres (Daniel Mastrogiorgio) to their illegal stash. They rendezvous with Ben's creepy cousin Henry (Mark Rosenthal) and Henry's silent pal, Frankie (Will Janowitz) , hire a stripper (Helen Cox) and throw an impromptu party before hitting the road again, only to have Colton's irresponsible ways catch up with them in a very scary way.

To call director Bruce Van Dusen's second feature in 20 years (he makes commercials for a living) a shaggy-dog story suggests more structure than it actually has; Alexander's script is just a series of character skits, some charming and others tedious. It's hard to tell which role is more thankless -- over-thinking sad sack Ben or feckless idiot Colton – and though some of their scenes give off a certain sense of loopy camaraderie, their friendship is completely unconvincing. The whole thing gives off a film geek vibe, from the wacky supporting characters to the mess of guns and the cutesy pop neologisms -- Frankie is a "wobit," which stands for "web-only based interactive communicator" -- that aren't as clever as they must have seemed at the time. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh