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Wacked Out

The Wackness might seem like one of those movies you’re going to hate. A coming-of-age story set in New York City during the summer of 1994, it’s one of those quirky Sundance films in which the main character has just graduated high school and, dude, he’s got one last summer before college. Nothing you haven’t seen ten thousand times before, right? Wrong.

Thanks to richly drawn characters and solid lead performances, The Wackness is anything but wack. Any movie with Sir Ben Kingsley as a dope-smoking shrink who quotes the Notorious B.I.G. isn’t exactly playing by the numbers. The unlikely friendship Kingsley builds with puppy-eyed Josh Peck (who stars as Luke, a weed-dealing Brooklynite hip-hopper with a heart of gold) looks cloying on paper, but director Jonathan Levine makes it feel right and real. The narrative steers deftly between laughs, drama and poignance – even nailing all three at once when Peck loses his virginity.

As an added bonus, the movie gets the details of a kid reliving his high-school years just right, with a soundtrack that features DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime,” a credits sequence that pays homage to In Living Color’s Fly Girls, and a keenly observed moment when Luke blows on a Nintendo cartridge to clear it of dust before putting it in the player. Who knew the early '90s would look so quaint so quickly?


The Wackness opens July 3 in New York and Los Angeles, and nationally on July 18, from Sony Pictures Classics.