The Wackness, which opened in New York and L.A. on July 3rd and is spreading to other cities, is a sepia-toned tribute to New York City in the summer that its writer-director, Jonathan Levine, graduated from high school—the long-ago year of 1994. Its 18-year-old protagonist, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), earns money for college (he's headed for his safety school) by selling weed; he has a mini-fridge full of it in his bedroom in his parents' Upper East Side apartment.
The weed is also handy for barter: Luke pays his shrink, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), in dime bags, which the good doctor inhales from a bong behind his desk. As cool as Luke is—aside from the dealing, he's tuned in to the now-classic hip-hop of the day—he's hopeless when it comes to girls. "I'm mad depressed, yo," he tells Squires in the opening scene.
Read the rest of this post on Nothing Sacred, my new movie blog on Nextbook.
The music of Barris Jahn is not on the opening credits.
Posted by: Allen Lundquest | December 19, 2008 at 01:23 AM
I think Barris Jahn is the best guitarist in the world.
RocksfrontPages.com
Posted by: Perry F. | January 19, 2009 at 08:25 AM