“I’m ready for this trip man. Montreal’s going to fucking rock.” With this line, Group Effort Films kicks off its freshman picture Backseat, a road trip comedy about two friends’ expedition to Canada to meet Donald Sutherland.

The plot of the film revolves around two struggling young New Yorkers, Ben (Rob Bogue) and Colton (Josh Alexander). Colton, a failed actor with a knack for attracting trouble, idolizes Donald Sutherland and talks his best friend into accompanying him to Montreal to meet his hero. Ben, who primarily spends his time unsuccessfully interviewing for jobs, has been fighting with his overly promiscuous girlfriend and sees the road trip as an opportunity to escape.

The two friends hit the road in Ben’s uncle’s Chevy Malibu, which an upset Colton describes as a “chick deterrent.” From this point, the trip grows increasingly interesting and stressful for the more conservative Ben, as Colton is constantly inviting trouble.

Along the way, the pair meets up with Ben’s paranoid cousin Henry (Mark Rosenthal), his silent friend Frankie (Will Janowitz), who communicates only by text messaging, a cocaine-savvy motel clerk and an insightful stripper. What begins as a seemingly ridiculous mission to meet Colton’s unlikely idol evolves into a more profound story of their late arrival at adulthood.

Group Effort was founded in 2002 by Henry Hardaway and Josh Alexander. Alexander is truly involved in every facet of Backseat, as he starred, wrote, and produced the film. Director Bruce Van Dusen, whose daytime job is in commercial work, delivers admirable direction to Backseat.

Sophomore Anfisa Rovinsky, and Group Effort intern, has been working to help coordinate Backseat’s Seattle release after first getting involved with the company through a Craigslist posting.

“I was interested in working for Group Effort because I really liked independent pictures and it seemed like an exciting opportunity to learn more about the grassroots effort behind them,” Rovinsky said.

Although the humor in Backseat seems at times somewhat formulaic, it manages to create two characters that, by movie’s end, are highly relatable.

“I really enjoyed the dynamic of the lead characters’ friendship. I thought they really played well off each other,” Rovinsky said.

The plot is simple and straightforward, allowing Ben and Colton’s friendship and character development to become the central focus of the film. Backseat is somewhat short, running just 80 minutes, and as a result seems to leave some key aspects of the plot underdeveloped, though Alexander’s story as a whole is formed well.

Although Backseat has been primarily marketed as a road-trip comedy, it is a truly character-driven film and a well-executed one at that. Backseat opens Friday, April 18 at the Varsity Theatre.

[Reach reporter Joseph Darda at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]