Friday at the Movies: The Wackness

This week's movie is 2008's The Wackness. It was written & directed by Jonathan Levine and stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, and Olivia Thirlby.

It is set in New York circa 1994. It follows teenage pot dealer Luke (Josh Peck) the summer after his high school graduation. He deals to Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) and falls for her. Ironically, he also deals to her step-dad (Ben Kingsley) who is a psychiatrist. They begin trading pot for therapy sessions. A friendship develops between Luke and Dr. Squires. It's a strange relationship with the age difference (what I imagine to be around 40 or 50 years) but in the end, Luke ends up helping Dr. Squires more than Squires helped him. It's a sweet and heartbreaking dynamic.

Mary Kate Olsen has a very small part in which she makes out with Ben Kingsley. It's kind of gross because they both look so dirty.

Even though it was set in 1994, their fashion seemed pretty modern (and God knows fashion has changed a lot since 1994.) The things that kept it grounded in the early 90s are the use of pay phones, pagers/beepers, boom boxes, mix tapes, Notorious B.I.G music, and slang words that died long ago.

Right when the movie was over, I found myself confused. There really wasn't much of a storyline. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I really liked this movie. It was a little different and I felt it was kind of...refreshing? It felt raw, which is something I really like in a movie. Drugs, sex, and rap are prevalent in the movie and while it's not really explicit, I'd stay away if you're offended by those things. And the f-word. Stay away if you're offended by that. Other than that, I have to recommend it. It's heartbreaking and sweet and sometimes funny. Can't as for more than that, can you?