(The following is a revision of a review I started writing back in late August but never finished.)
"The Wackness" is one of those films that doesn't seem all that remarkable when the credits first roll, but stays with you long after the fact. Now that we're approaching the end of the year, and now that I've seen upwards of 100 2008 releases, I'm somewhat shocked that I'm still contemplating this film, a sweet coming-of-age story that takes place over the course of a balmy summer in 1994 New York City.
The protagonist is Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck, and yes, the Josh Peck from Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh"), an awkward young man fresh out of his upper-crust high school and lacking in anything resembling direction. He's content to pass his days listening to hip-hop, fantasizing about his gangsta delusions and selling pot out of an ice cream cart in a NYC terrified of Mayor Giuliani's 100 percent crackdown on drugs. His state of inertia is interrupted by a series of events that take place at the start of the summer. First, he figures out that his parents are on the verge of losing their apartment. Then, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), his dream girl, takes a sudden active interest in hanging out with him. This is complicated by the fact that one of his few friends (and a dealing client), Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley) is Stephanie's stepfather.
At first, Stephanie is a dream come true for Luke. (It takes a special kind of actress to perform a teenage boy's masturbatory fantasy, figuratively and literally, and Thirlby is more than game.) She follows him as he deals, asking about the finer points of the profession, loves the East Coast rap mixtapes he makes for her and invites him back to her family's house on Fire Island for drinking and the loss of his virginity. Luke is in heaven, and not even Dr. Squires' warnings that it's only a fleeting thing can't stop him. Inevitably, Stephanie is not what she seems, and this leads to Luke having to confront maturity head-on.
There is a lot to this film that has been done to death in other films, but rarely this well. Peck is marvelous as Shapiro, lending him a sad-eyed charm that lies buried for much of the film beneath a Notorious B.I.G.-induced swagger. It's hilarious to watch his posturing come unraveled in visits to his dealer (Method Man), when he realizes that he's surrounded by real gangbangers, dangerous ones at that. Kingsley, acting considerably against type even for such a chameleon as himself, is even better as Squires. He adopts Luke both as a friend and a son, because Luke reminds him of himself when he was young and still had idealism on his side; Squires is trapped in a loveless marriage, with a stepdaughter that regards him with indifference and a job that he hates save for its ability to allow him to help Luke.
Is it ridiculous for a film to get nostalgic for an era not yet fifteen years past? Maybe. The upside to this gambit is that the film takes on a certain sense of relevance that this genre needs in order to reach its audience. As another film in the subgenre paved by "The Graduate," it works better than many of its ilk. The summer ends, people of all ages grow up, and even if the road ahead isn't the happiest one, there's a pretty badass soundtrack to carry everybody onward.
"The Wackness" is one of those films that doesn't seem all that remarkable when the credits first roll, but stays with you long after the fact. Now that we're approaching the end of the year, and now that I've seen upwards of 100 2008 releases, I'm somewhat shocked that I'm still contemplating this film, a sweet coming-of-age story that takes place over the course of a balmy summer in 1994 New York City.
The protagonist is Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck, and yes, the Josh Peck from Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh"), an awkward young man fresh out of his upper-crust high school and lacking in anything resembling direction. He's content to pass his days listening to hip-hop, fantasizing about his gangsta delusions and selling pot out of an ice cream cart in a NYC terrified of Mayor Giuliani's 100 percent crackdown on drugs. His state of inertia is interrupted by a series of events that take place at the start of the summer. First, he figures out that his parents are on the verge of losing their apartment. Then, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), his dream girl, takes a sudden active interest in hanging out with him. This is complicated by the fact that one of his few friends (and a dealing client), Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley) is Stephanie's stepfather.
At first, Stephanie is a dream come true for Luke. (It takes a special kind of actress to perform a teenage boy's masturbatory fantasy, figuratively and literally, and Thirlby is more than game.) She follows him as he deals, asking about the finer points of the profession, loves the East Coast rap mixtapes he makes for her and invites him back to her family's house on Fire Island for drinking and the loss of his virginity. Luke is in heaven, and not even Dr. Squires' warnings that it's only a fleeting thing can't stop him. Inevitably, Stephanie is not what she seems, and this leads to Luke having to confront maturity head-on.
There is a lot to this film that has been done to death in other films, but rarely this well. Peck is marvelous as Shapiro, lending him a sad-eyed charm that lies buried for much of the film beneath a Notorious B.I.G.-induced swagger. It's hilarious to watch his posturing come unraveled in visits to his dealer (Method Man), when he realizes that he's surrounded by real gangbangers, dangerous ones at that. Kingsley, acting considerably against type even for such a chameleon as himself, is even better as Squires. He adopts Luke both as a friend and a son, because Luke reminds him of himself when he was young and still had idealism on his side; Squires is trapped in a loveless marriage, with a stepdaughter that regards him with indifference and a job that he hates save for its ability to allow him to help Luke.
Is it ridiculous for a film to get nostalgic for an era not yet fifteen years past? Maybe. The upside to this gambit is that the film takes on a certain sense of relevance that this genre needs in order to reach its audience. As another film in the subgenre paved by "The Graduate," it works better than many of its ilk. The summer ends, people of all ages grow up, and even if the road ahead isn't the happiest one, there's a pretty badass soundtrack to carry everybody onward.
Livewire
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