The Wackness

Ahh there is nothing quite like a coming of age story dealing with love, drugs, rap music and a bizarre friendship all in the year...hmm...now what year was it again? Oh that's right I remember since its jammed into your head incessantly again and again. This is that ancient past that was 1994. Kurt Cobain is dead, Notorious B.I.G. is getting hip. Blah, blah, blah. I was 13 in 1994 and in 8th grade I think nor did I live in New York and so all the nostalgia that this film elicits is all one big who gives a crap.

Josh Peck plays Luke, a recently graduated drug dealer who is going to his safety school in the fall. He's always been a bit of a loser and has developed a codependent relationship with a psychiatrist named Squires (Ben Kingsley) in which he exchanges drugs for therapy sessions. Luke falls for Squires' daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) and we follow Luke through his trials of his last summer before college. Everyone in this film has family troubles of some sort and Luke's magically lie just off screen save for a few character building moments of his home life.

I suppose we are supposed to see in Luke a lovable loser. Someone who once he's away from the singular clique mind of high school will flourish. The problem is that somewhere along the line the lovable part seems to have been missed. I'm not sure its because of Josh Peck's banal performance or poor writing. The fact that he has a closer relationship with his crush's step father than the crush should bode well for him. There isn't any point in the film where I care what happens to Luke or any of these people.

Kingsley is playing a bit of a bizarre character which I'm sure he relishes but he's far better than this film and its unfortunate that he has to be in it. Olivia Thirlby who was Juno's best friend in hit from last year does pretty well but again like all the characters here they don't feel that interesting. If you have some strange nostalgia for a very specific vision of 1994 well then I encourage you to go listen to an old album and take a gander at some photos and not bother with this film.