Review of The Wackness

The Wackness is Dope

Forget everything you knew about Josh Peck of Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh. The kid can act. In The Wackness (written and directed by Jonathan Levine), Peck stars opposite Sir Ben Kingsley and shows that he is a high-quality actor worthy of sharing the screen with the industry's most notable names. The Wackness is a coming-of-age story about a drug dealer named Luke Shapiro (played by Peck) who pays for his therapy sessions with Dr. Squires (Kingsley) with pot. In the summer following his high school graduation, life forces Luke to grow up. After his father makes some unwise investments, Luke, with Dr. Squires help, sets out to save his family. But Dr. Squires, with Luke’s help, learns a few things about himself along the way. This film could have gone entirely in the wrong direction. With a hundred chances to take it down a clichéd or violent path, Levine created a beautiful film that captures the innocence of youth in the midst of a world in turmoil. As an audience, we experience Luke’s first love, his first loss, and the road he must walk to becoming a man. We happily find ourselves entranced in the relationship of Kingsley and Peck and feel both of their joy and pain. At one point during the film, Dr. Squires’ stepdaughter, Stephanie (played by Olivia Thirlby) tells Luke that he only looks at the wackiness in life and never sees the dopeness. This film is the embodiment of the dopeness.

Posted on 01/19/08 by: Mark Hammerschmidt 01:18 PM