Review of The Wackness (2008) by Rick R — 14 Jan 2014

The Wackness (2008).

This little independent film is not what I would consider a comedy. Come on guys; I didn't even get a chuckle out of this. In fact it was really depressing with a lot of unhappy people trying to cope with their lives. I would tend to call it more of a coming of age drama.

Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) is graduating from high school. He deals pot, but instead of being the center of every party, he's a depressed loner. He's not sure what he wants to do with his life and he can't seem to get laid. His parents are always fighting and they're going to be evicted from their apartment. He's been seeing a psychologist, Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley) basically for the price of dope.

Dr. Squires is having problems of his own; with his wife (Framke Janssen), his step-daughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) and with all the medications he's taking. He gives Luke some great advice, but he could stand to follow it himself. Dr. Squires wants to go back to the 60s, but it's 1994. Luke falls in love with Stephanie, but she's just not as much into him. It's more out of boredom.

The Wackness's saving grace is the soundtrack. There's lots of cool early hip-hop and some sounds from the 60s and 70s, and Luke does try to get it together.