[yasr_overall_rating]
A feature length coming of age story about high school love, punk rock, and hemorrhoids.
Once in a while, along comes an ultra-low budget independent film that manages to transcend its lack of production values with either top-notch acting, an involving plot, bracing humor, real insight into the human condition – or, in best cases, all of the above. I remember watching a screener for such a film, John Wick’s “Francis of Brooklyn,” which dealt with PTSD, religion, homelessness, and despite its evident micro-budget, brought to mind classics like Terry Gilliam’s “The Fisher King.”
Unfortunately, “The Backseat” is not one of those films. While it outwardly strives to cite cult favorites, such as “Empire Records,” “American Pie” and even, dare I say, “Sid and Nancy,” with its flagrant concoction of vulgarity, sweetness and a lumbering, pseudo-nihilistic approach, it falls short of attaining those films’ status in the cinematic pantheon of rebellious teen fare. Perhaps it would have worked better as a satire, as its earnestness violently clashes with blatant sexism and offensive throwaway statements.
Ryan O’Leary’s feature directorial debut starts promisingly. Our hero, Roy (Chris Bellant), is a young outcast, brainstorming potential band names with his friend, Larry (Craig McDonald-Kelly). Their list includes standouts like “Schindler’s Clit,” “Jesus Christ Sex Machine” and “Secret Hitler” (it’s like Secret Santa, you see, and ”everyone loves Secret Santa”). They finally agree on “Witness My Jehovah,” and start posting flyers, looking for a drummer. The script, by O’Leary, so far is sharp, crammed with zingers and snappy one-liners. Roy and Larry finally find the perfect drummer: the sexist, brash Mike Peterson (Costa Nicholas defines “OTT” in his one-note performance).
Things go downhill from here, into the dark depths of stereotype. Roy’s mother Debra (Lori Hamilton) is an eternally-cheerful, nuclear-family staple, who nonchalantly cleans up her son’s post-masturbatory semen. His dad David (John Thomas Cramer) generally just doesn’t give a shit (his response to his son’s sudden happiness: “It’s probably drugs”). Roy’s gym teacher, Mr. Hennrick, is abrasive and overbearing, played quite terribly by Matt Van Orden, who, at one point, loudly announces that Roy has hemorrhoids, making sure Roy’s bully classmates can hear him, and yes, consequently make fun of Roy.
Roy encounters the girl of his dreams, Samantha (Allyson Reilly), after an unnecessarily extended and nauseating sequence at the doctor’s, because, lo and behold, they both have hemorrhoids! Sharing absolutely zero chemistry, Roy and Samantha embark on a romance. The film becomes a love-story-cum-coming-of-age–cum-underdog-punk-rock-flick-cum-lots-of-cum. It all leads up to a small show at a local tiny club.
Because the plot is so deeply rooted in cliches, the film’s budget limitations become that much more obvious. Some transitions are wonky (take a whiskey shot for each fade out, and you will be annihilated by the time credits roll), the camerawork is cheap, Roy’s school consists of exactly eight students…
To be fair, at least O’Leary seems to have tried, intermittently. There are a few mildly diverting sequences, my favorite involving Larry’s fascination with Terrence Malick’s “The Thin Red Line” (Roy’s sleepy response: “Literally like watching grass grow”). Chris Bellant makes for an adequately awkward and sardonic protagonist. But there are too many forcefully raunchy and obnoxious jokes – e.g. “what the fuck, you threw up on my penis!”, classy – and amateur, one-note performances.
I wonder if O’Leary watched the recent “Wetlands,” which dealt with similar issues, also crassly, but its originality and compelling heroine outweighed – and one can even say complemented – its nastiness. Perhaps the director is finding his footing, and if he focuses more on character development and visual innovation in his next feature, maybe, just maybe, he can truly steer a race-car. For now, he’s in the backseat of an old Chevy.
Available on DVD and Digital October 6th
