A recent high school graduate tries to work his way out of depression in the Big Apple in the mid 1990’s in the eccentric coming-of-age film, THE WACKNESS. Luke is not your average high school grad. Sure he struggles with finding a girlfriend, can’t deal with his parents and burns away endless hours on the Nintendo, but he also is a drug dealer, a depressed one, who finances his trips to the psychiatrist by peddling dime bags to the doctor. In addition to his psychiatric trips, Luke is also crushing on his doctor’s stepdaughter, Stephanie.
THE WACKNESS has all of the make-up of a vanity project, so when I looked up whether or not these were the real life experiences of the film’s writer-director Jonathan Levine, and the answer was “no”, it left me scratching my head. Levine claims the film is semi-autobiographical, in terms of the backdrop, details and perspective, and in these terms Levine gets it right. The soundtrack is chalk full of catchy and appropriate, if not important R & B and rap hits of the era, and the attitude of Luke, Stephanie and other young adults seems dead-on. Since this is a coming-of-age film, I guess I expected some of, if not all, of the characters to mature. Luke, his psychiatrist Dr. Squires, played by Ben Kingsley and Stephanie don’t grow up much, leaving THE WACKNESS feeling shallow. Levine is more concerned with providing an edge to the film, and in the process, it suffers in terms of substance. Levine has mixed his semi-autobiographical high school years, with an actual biographical essay, but the core of the story must have been lost in translation. It’s a shame because Josh Peck, as Luke, is good, and Olivia Thirlby as Stephanie, turns in a star-making performance. THE WACKNESS isn’t as dope as it thinks it is, despite Peck and Thirlby’s efforts.
Grade: C
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