The Wackness
is the story of pot dealer Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), and his
summer after graduating high school. An outcast with no friends,
troubles at home, and a crushing lack of confidence with girls,
Shapiro sees a therapist, Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley) in exchange
for weed. Squires has his own problems, his marriage is
disintegrating and he wishes to be an adolescent again. The two
strike up an unlikely friendship and begin a trek for girls,
something they both think they need. Here they end up meeting
several quirky characters. Among them are Shapiro’s supplier
(Method Man), a drug using hippy (Mary-Kate Olsen), and a pot
addled one hit wonder (Jane Adams), who has a thing for Dr
Squires. During the course of their quest Shapiro begins a
relationship with Dr Squires step daughter, Stephanie (Olivia
Thirlby). Believed to be out of his league, Shapiro finds
himself experiencing his first real taste of true love.
Set against a backdrop of New York City in 1994, the film is a
semi autobiographical tale of director Jonathan Levine’s life
growing up. Rudolph Giuliani had just become mayor, a heatwave
was ripping through the city and hip hop was all over the
streets. The film won the audience award at the Sundance Film
Festival and is a humorous, yet moving film. It has been
compared to recent indie comedy successes Juno and
Little Miss Sunshine, yet doesn’t really bare much of a
resemblance. The characters are not pop culture minutiae spewing
vehicles and the film as a whole is much less laugh out loud
funny. That being said the film is consistently humorous but is
also more dramatic in tone than either of the films it is being
compared to.
Both Peck and Kingsley are great in their roles, and the
friendship that grows between them seems very organic. The
visual style and details in the history also contain many great
little touches. It is obvious that Levine has lived this world
and his look back at New York in the 90’s is a charming piece of
nostalgia that is engaging, well acted and well directed.
The only special feature on the DVD is a theatrical trailer, so
unless you are already a big fan maybe give this one a rent
first.
