The Wackness (2008) Movie Information:

The Wackness (2008) Directed by: Jonathan Levine The Wackness (2008) Written by: Jonathan Levine The Wackness (2008) Cast: Josh Peck, Sir Ben Kingsley, Method Man, Mary Kate Olsen, Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen, Aaron Yoo

The Wackness (2008) U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics The Wackness (2008) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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The Wackness (2008) Synopsis:

It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana--but change is in the air. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against "crimes" like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen,and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story.

The Wackness (2008) Movie Review:

Set in New York City during 1994, The Wackness is an indie coming of age comedy that has substance, but no real flair to it. Though it inhabits a winning performance from Ben Kingsley and gets better as it goes along, the film still struggles at times with its wit and execution.

The story follows 18-year old Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), who is not like by many, even though he satisfies their needs by dealing them marijuana on occasion. Luke’s parents relationship is in chaos as they are about to be evicted, and the only person he can turn to is his psychiatrist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), who offers Luke sessions in exchange for weed. After graduating from high school, Luke plans to earn up enough money dealing to go to college in the fall. His struts around New York City with an Italian ice cart as the cover for his drug dealing operation. He catches the eye of one of his fellow classmates and buyer, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), who is liked by many and also the stepdaughter of Dr. Squires. Luke has been told that he is needs sex to heal his depression by Dr. Squires, but he does not necessarily mean with Stephanie. As Luke begins to see Stephanie more and more, he also develops a solid bond with Dr. Squires, who is ticked off at Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's heavy crackdown on the city and also having issues with his estranged wife (Famke Janseen). The film takes the usually expected turns with a film of this nature, but the final act is overshadows the rest of the film.

Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) wrote and directed The Wackness with a quirky nature and filled it with numerous references of the time period and a solid soundtrack from the mid-90’s as well. The drug element works and does bog the film down, and it is really amusing to see an actor like Ben Kingsley pick up a bong and go to work. The film really does struggle through its middle ground and nearly descents into the land of dullness. It is obvious what will occur between Stephanie and Luke and what will happen to other characters such as Luke’s parents that audience nearly gets to the point of wanting the film to end. However, the commendable characters and the final act of Levine’s script, which focuses on the film central relationship saves it from not being recommendable. Levine shows some skills as a filmmaker and it seems that he will just get better with time.

It a very opposite role than his work on the kid-friendly Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh, Josh Peck takes on the role of the drug-dealing Luke Shapiro. Though he has moments, one is not totally in jest of Peck’s work with this character. At times he seems endowed as Luke, while other times he looks sleepy and lost. The real weak performance of the film is by rapper Method Man as the Jamaican drug supplier Percy. His accent is really off and it is good that he only has a few scenes in this film. On the other hand, Ben Kingsley is very solid in his off-the wall role as Dr. Squires, as is Olivia Thirlby as Stephanie. With this good work, Kingsley is forgiven for his previous blunder role this summer in War, Inc. and The Love Guru, and Thirlby is given more to work with than his best friend role in last year’s Juno that she really shines as a young talent. Other members of the cast include Famke Janseen as Dr. Squires’ spiraling wife and Mary-Kate Olsen as a free-spirited hippie client of Luke’s.

The Wackness won an audience award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, which helped the film get a slotted release date. Though it is muddled through most of the film, The Wackness does endear unique characters and has a wonderful final act, even though some of the relationships are predictable.

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The Wackness (2008) review written by: Bailey Henderson