In 1994 New York City, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) is 18 and a drug dealer masquerading as an ice block seller. He and his parents are facing eviction, and on the eve of college he's struggling with depression and a nascent sex life. Enter Dr. Jeff Squires (Ben Kingsley), his Dionysian therapist whom Luke pays in fresh pot. After they're arrested together, Luke meets and falls for Dr. Squires' ethereal stepdaughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), who's practically his spiritual opposite. As she says, she focused on the "dopeness," and he's fixated on "the wackness." As their budding romance grows (they even make out in an outdoor shower), Luke must also navigate his rather inconsistent sessions with Dr. Squires and the turmoil at home, before cementing his future.
Coming-of-age tales can be so derivative and PC now, but The Wackness stands head and shoulders above most others from this century. Extrapolating from his own adolescence, Jonathan Levine (who's since made 50/50 and Warm Bodies, both disappointing) deftly takes us into the lives of these three disparate but connected people and a few oddballs they encounter, like has-been folk rocker Eleanor (Jane Adams), hippie Union (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Luke's DJ former friend Justin (Aaron Yoo), along with very authentically recreating 1994 NYC, when Rudy Giuliani had just become Mayor. His polished screenplay also features some very witty and fitting dialogue.
Peck makes a strong dramatic debut after his breakout work on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, and Thirlby has deep chemistry with him. But showing them both how it's done, no doubt, is Ben Kingsley in one of his best (and definitely strangest) roles ever. Besides mining maximum laughs from the most immature shrink imaginable, he also expertly depicts a middle-aged guy who ultimately tries to re-evaluate his own life thanks to his teenage charge.
Peck makes a strong dramatic debut after his breakout work on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh, and Thirlby has deep chemistry with him. But showing them both how it's done, no doubt, is Ben Kingsley in one of his best (and definitely strangest) roles ever. Besides mining maximum laughs from the most immature shrink imaginable, he also expertly depicts a middle-aged guy who ultimately tries to re-evaluate his own life thanks to his teenage charge.
Throw some lush cinematography, a pulsating period hip hop soundtrack and some very cool graffiti title cards in, and the result is a bildungsroman like no other. The Wackness is anything but wack.
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