The Wackness (2008)

It's been a while since I've written a review but I have watched nearly two dozen films since and I'm going to be writing until I get them all in here. I'll also finally put up my Best of 2009 list even though it's WAY too late for it now.

I adore Sony Pictures Classics because they almost always put out quality films much like Fox Searchlight Pictures.

"The Wackness" is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics and was praised at the Sundance Film festival in January 2008. The film is directed by Jonathan Levine and it stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary Kate Olsen, Method Man, and Jane Adams. The film takes place in the summer of 1994 in New York City and follows the coming of age journey of a recent high school grad, Luke Shapiro. After graduating from high school, Luke spends most of his summer dealing pot and seeing his shrink. He ultimately falls in love with the shrinks daughter, Steph, while having drug fueled hang out time with her father and his shrink. Luke also has to deal with his parents constantly fighting over money and their pending eviction from their apartment so he tries to help out by selling more dope.

This is a neat creative little film that I did enjoy intermittently. The performances are decent and the music takes you back in time. The thing that I liked about this film is that it takes place in the summer of 1994 and it sort of reminds you of days when things weren't as bad as they are now. The music reminds you of the time when hip hop was actually hip hop and not some hybrid of something else like it is, for the most part, now. There was a lot of neat little fantasy sequences that I thought were pretty great and added more life to the film. Mostly it makes you fall in love with New York all over again if you weren't in love with it enough before. Josh Peck's performance is a good one but sometimes I felt like he was mumbling a lot of the time which may or may not be intended. Ben Kingsley, as always, is fantastic in this as a drug addicted shrink. He really doesn't have much to work with, but he makes it work because he's so good at what he does. Olivia Thirlby does a great job of playing Steph. The reason I say that is because the character she's playing is like so many teenage girls. They don't know what they want, they just want to have fun and she plays that confusion VERY well. I think she's a very underrated actress. The rest of the performances were decent enough to keep the film afloat and I felt like most of the supporting actors were wasted in this.

As far as the film itself, I did enjoy it for the most part, like I said, but sometimes it felt too far fetched or that it was trying too hard to be the "cool indie flick of the year". However, there are things about it that warrant a viewing. The soundtrack alone, the cinematography has a golden tint to it and make the city look beautiful and also sort of a softness to it, and Ben Kingsley's performance.

So if you're looking for a neat little indie flick to watch, I recommend this. It's a fun watch and you might want to leave your brain at the door for this one. Enjoy!