The Wackness

Day 14/192-The Wackness: Starring Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley

Josh Peck is the fat one from Drake and Josh. Only he's not fat anymore, or goofy, he's a mad cool drug dealer with wicked cool patter. So basically he ain't gonna be typecast no more. This is The Wackness, where Luke Shapiro (Peck) is a bit of a loser, deals pot, has no friends, except for his shrink Dr. Squires (Kingsley) the catch being that Squires is a bit mental.

Luke is chillin' through summer after finishing high school when he meets Stephanie, the step-daughter of Dr. Squires and begins to fall in love.

You may have heard this story before and it's certainly nothing hugely original. But it is fun, funny, a bit sad and very grounded in the reality of what it was like to grow up in the 1990s.

The Wackness is a film that takes a little while to find its feet. In the first 15-20 minutes we remain unsure about Luke as a character as we struggle to understand him but long-term he is worth the ride. Ben Kingsley too seems to wriggle around before eventually becoming attached to the character of Dr. Squires but this could just be the director's way of making the film about those two chracters and their journey together.

Not only that but it tails of a bit in the last 15-20 minutes as well. So in a film that lasts 99 minutes and at least 30 minutes are so-so, is it worth watching for the rest?


I would say yes. As soon as Olivia Thirlby enters the fray this film galvanizes its talented cast into the performances they should and indeed do deliver, so that the coolness of the characters can come through, while their motivation is questioned and explained all through the presence of a central figure in the form of Stephanie.

She embodies everything you can remember about that girl from school that was just too good to be true and she pulls it off with every turn of her head and flick of her hair and then as soon as she's gone you find yourself saying "well, she wasn't that good anyway."

More than that, the film soars in the middle section. There are some brilliant moments of comedy and emotion and as the love story begins to develop so does the film, but it does unfortunately lose its way.



All in all, The Wackness is a surprisingly involving film. The film jams three completely flawed characters together and sees if they can bring the best out in each other and it is very satisfying as an audience to watch that happen for a time. Even the fact that it all goes a bit off in the end isn't too important because the middle part is as good as I've seen this year and I would gladly watch that again rather than some of the other things I have seen.

7/10