SnoopyStyle It's the summer of '94 in Giuliani's New York City. Friendless Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) deals drugs from his ices cart, and his parents are constantly fighting. He trades pot for therapy from psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley). Luke falls for Jeffrey's stepdaughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby). She treats him like a friend at first, but he wants so much more.I wasn't sold on Josh Peck's performance at first, but it kind of grew on me. He's aimless, tired, and cynical. Ben Kingsley's character isn't much better. He spends his days smoking weed, and he rather do some groping on Mary-Kate Olsen. Olivia Thirlby plays the closest thing to a full grown adult in this movie or is she the most damaged? Director/writer Jonathan Levine brings these characters to life even though there isn't much life in these characters. It has a certain low energy charm to it all.

Movie_Muse_Reviews Coming-of-age stories come in all forms, though one would expect a New York City drug dealer at the height of hip-hop in the mid '90s to have already experienced a loss of innocence. For Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), however, dealing pot is just a summer job, and for all his street cred, he's a lonely dude unexperienced in the ways of love.Jonathan Levine's "The Wackness" tells that typical story of a last summer before college, but clichés don't run wild thanks to a re-calibrated the moral compass. Something's off with each of his three main characters; they're not the most likable or at the least morally sound, which provides a challenge for the actors in terms of generating sympathy.Sir Ben Kingsley seems to really enjoy that challenge. He plays Dr. Squires, Luke's shrink whom Luke pays in pot. Unconventional doesn't quite describe Squires; everything about Kingsley's performance feels unpredictable and spontaneous, but deeply rooted in a mid-life crisis. He projects a desire to be in Luke's place in the way he offers advice, which sometimes is misguided and sometimes spot-on. Both, however, share loneliness at different stages in life and therefore become friends.As much as Dr. Squires urges Luke to sow his oats, however, he also wants Luke to stay away from his step daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) for unclear but certainly hypocritical reasons. A popular girl with inattentive parents, Stephanie's well-versed in many things, including boys, but she takes interest in Luke's charms. Their relationship doesn't necessarily feel right in the fairy tale sense, but it does feel true-to-life because more often than not, there's a discrepancy in the amount of life experience two people have, especially at 18.This dictates the essence of Levine's message, though one wrapped in a complicated shell built of excessive drug use and morally misguided activities. For Levine, coming of age is about accumulating experience, both positive and negative, the "dopeness" and the "wackness" as Stephanie tells Luke. The challenge is finding the right perspective, not unlike the perspective with which we need to view some of the characters and their questionable activities in order to appreciate the film.~Steven CVisit my site at http://moviemusereviews.com

Steve Pulaski The Wackness is anything but wack. Our protagonist is the coolest kid on the block, as he deals enough weed to supply a month's Woodstock and becomes attached to his psychiatrist whom is also a customer of his. This is a very artsy indie film that can be listed under drama, melodrama, comedy, quirky, witty, and even coming of age.Josh Peck, the once chubby Drake & Josh star, has now evened out and is all grown up as he drops frequent f-bombs and drifted from his Nickelodeon character as far as possible. He plays Luke Shapiro, an outcast in 1994 New York City, who sells marijuana to the town to support his financially challenged family. His counselor he frequents named Dr. Jeffery Squires (Kingsley) is a soft-spoken pothead who gives Luke the oddball advice, and doesn't follow the counselor handbook very well. Luke becomes attracted to Stephanie (Thrilby) who he learns is Dr. Squires' stepdaughter. The two start hanging out, sharing secrets, and well, connecting.Luke enjoys making mixtapes on the outdated, but retro audio cassettes for his counselor and Stephanie. The music, which is composed of mainly Nas, Notorious B.I.G., and Wu Tang Clan hip hop songs, is a huge part of The Wackness. The music sort of parallels with the film because many of the songs "speak" to the film and explain what it doesn't, if that makes any sense.Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck could very well be one of the best duos in any film released in 2008. Their chemistry is formed from drugs and each other's unique way of giving advice. Luke's sense of love and compassion for others is formed from Stephanie's way of broadening his horizons to the world of attraction.Right off the bat, Luke acts like the "everythings-cool-don't-mind-me-homeboy" kind of kid, when really, he is shy and just as scared as we all are of the world. Still, he never comes off as ignorant or heartless in the film. He is one of the few protagonists I really rooted for by the end of the film. And I doubt it was because I was a fan of the Nickelodeon show Josh Peck was apart of.The Wackness is definitely an art-house film, but it shouldn't have been. It should've been released way more mainstream. It is one of the most important coming of age films next to 2010's Flipped. It's like a sponge-cake where the cake is made up of serious drama, and the icing is made up of quirkiness. Word.Starring: Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thrilby, Famke Janssen, Method Man, and Mary-Kate Olsen. Directed by: Jonathan Levine.

rooprect Don't waste your life on this movie. Don't even waste your life on my review of this movie. Save yourself before it's too late.Alas, you're still here. So you might as well readREASONS TO HATE THIS MOVIE#1 The main character's lower lip. What's up with that? It's like the kid just got shot with 10cc of novocaine, and throughout the movie his lower lip is hanging like a flat tire flapping on the road. I suppose this look was supposed to be cool back in 1994. The I-don't-care-cuz-I-just-got-back-from-the-dentist look. But to me it just doesn't fly. Nor is it 'fly'. Which brings us to #2 The goofy, contrived 'urban slang' like using "dope" as an adjective ("Haydn is dope, man!") or using "mad" as an adverb ("You're mad outta my league!" or "It's mad hot!") and the real kicker... pronouncing "all right" as "aaigh". Bear in mind, these aren't kids from the hood we're watching. These are park avenue rich kids trying to act 'phat'. More like 'pstupid'. Normally I can let some exaggerated dialects slip by, but this movie pounds us with it mercilessly, and it really becomes distracting.#3 The preposterous lead character. We begin with the star of the movie (flat tire lipman) who is a college-bound rich kid who is also a big time drug dealer and yet he's as sweet & innocent as Beaver Cleaver, just wants to help his parents pay the rent (on their park avenue flat), and just wants to get his first girlfriend. Did I mention he's a virgin also? Yes, a rich, drug-dealing, wholesome virgin. In New York City. It would be hilarious if this were a Jerry Lewis flick, but no, I think we're really supposed to take the character seriously. Ben Kingsley himself plays a pretty bizarre creature (a rich, uptown psychiatrist who has the mental age & morals of a horny 16-year-old), but in the case of Kingsley's character, it's definitely meant as a comic device, and for that reason I actually consider Kingsley to be one of the reasons to love this film, see below.#4 The hamfisted & hypocritical message that recreational drugs are cool but prescription drugs are square. I'm not sure if the writers were being deliberately ironic, but I really don't think so. Weed is cool. Ritalin is not. That's the moral of the story.OK, now that you've heard the biggest reasons for hating the movie, I'll tell you my...(very few) REASONS FOR LIKING THIS MOVIE#1 Ben Kingsley. As I said above, his character is so bizarre you just have to accept it as comedy and be entertained. His character on screen was 100% entertaining to me, but unfortunately (contrary to his top billing) Kingsley was only a supporting actor, second fiddle to flat tire lipman.#2 Semi-surreal moments of artistic expression. There were a few short scenes where the movie dumped its realistic façade and slipped into tongue-in-cheek genius. For example, there's one scene where the hero, feeling on top of the world, starts dancing on the sidewalk as it lights up like in Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video. There were also 1 or 2 memorable dream sequences. I think these short scenes were the saving grace of an otherwise commonplace film.Other than that, this movie sucks so hard they should use it to clean up the BP oil spill.