The Wackness (2008)

Director:

Jonathan Levine

Writer (WGA):

Jonathan Levine (written by)

Release Date:

29 August 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Sometimes it's right to do the wrong things.

Plot:

It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop. Set against this backdrop, a lonely teenager named Luke Shapiro spends his last summer before university selling marijuana throughout New York City, trading it with his unorthodox psychotherapist for treatment, while having a crush on his stepdaughter.

Plot Keywords:

Summer | Marijuana | Pot | New York City | Hip Hop

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Ben Kingsley	...	Dr. Jeffrey Squires
Josh Peck	...	Luke Shapiro
Famke Janssen	...	Kristin Squires
Olivia Thirlby	...	Stephanie
Mary-Kate Olsen	...	Union
Jane Adams	...	Eleanor
Method Man	...	Percy
Aaron Yoo	...	Justin
Talia Balsam	...	Mrs. Shapiro
David Wohl	...	Mr. Shapiro
Bob Dishy	...	Grandpa Shapiro
Joanna Merlin	...	Grandma Shapiro
Shannon Briggs	...	Bodyguard #1
Roy Milton Davis	...	Homeless Man
Alexander Flores	...	Kid in Bar

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive drug use, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Australia:MA | Norway:15 | Sweden:7 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:R21 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Italy:VM14 | France:U (with warning)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Occupant Films

Trivia:

The first song in the movie that Luke is listening to on his headphones is "The World Is Yours" which features the lyric: "I sip the Dom P, watchin' Gandhi 'til I'm charged." Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for portraying Gandhi (1982) in 1982.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stephanie gives Luke her number, Luke puts the piece of paper in his pocket. When he later checks it out, the paper is neat and without any creases whatsoever.

Quotes:

Luke Shapiro: Do me a favor, Steph?
Stephanie: Huh?
Luke Shapiro: Don't say nothin, ok? Just stand there til I leave. I wanna remember this. I've never done it before.
Stephanie: Never done what?
Luke Shapiro: Had my heart broken.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-07-12)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Razorblades

Touching period coming-of-age flick

A thirty-something's dream summer movie, a bittersweet romantic comedy ironically bleached by the day-glo hip hop soundtrack. It's better than a simple nostalgia montage though. The unlikely friendship of Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) and his psychiatrist (Kingsley) is the buddy movie subplot that might as well be the permissive 60s and its zonked-out, ideologically vacant progeny.

The two men muddle through, but it's the summer romance in summery New York that propels the film. Luke doesn't have any sort of direction until he's gifted the company of Olivia Thirlby's Stephanie, a streetwise but unthinking classmate - with mate being the operative word.

It's a pretty straightforward film. There's plenty of amiable humour and a number of small but well-drawn supporting characters. I felt it missed a trick though. The temperament of the film seems so well-judged, human but halcyon, that I was preparing myself for an enormous twist, a juddering revelation or emotional detonation. Instead Levine chokes and goes for a weak final 15 mins with too much talk and unable to stop the comic wagon on which he's carted the rest of the film along. 7/10