The WACKNESS
The Story:
It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) just graduated high school, and now he's perfectly content with spending his summer fantasizing about girls on the subway, staying away from his parents constant bickering and selling pot out of an ices cart. One day when Luke returns home he finds his parents arguing over money and are probably getting evicted. Luke starts dealing more weed to make money for his family.
Having no friends of his own, and his lack of a future in any career, Josh's only real connection to the real world and its harsh realities, comes via his therapy sessions with Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), a well-to-do, yet bored middle-aged shrink, whose life isn't exactly much better than that of his patients.
The doctor proposes Luke trade him weed for therapy sessions,While he tries to help Luke figure out his young life, he also seeks to recapture the carefree essence of his lost adolescence, so to escape the hapless marriage he has to wife Kristen (Famke Janssen), and non-existent relationship to his step-daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby).
Deciding to go off exploring the city one hot, fine afternoon Luke and the doctor share each other's regrets, hopes, and experiences, all the while meeting some of Luke's more colorful clientele, Union (Mary Kate Olsen) a flighty 90's flowerchild, Percy a Rastafarian dealer (Method Man) and Eleanor (Jane Adams).
Through repeated meetings with Dr. Squires, Luke soon starts hanging out with Stephanie, who enjoys Luke's company, for his simplicity and his willingness to pay attention to her. Together they spend a good portion of the summer of '94 exploring their life options, their taste in drugs, as well as each other, in a series of awkward sexual encounters.
When Luke becomes a bit too infatuated with the lovely Stephanie. She shrinks back from him, not wishing to get involved in any sort of relationship. This heartbreak causes much turmoil for young Luke, who of course seeks out the good hippie doctor, who himself is slowly coming to terms with the end of his marriage, and is facing an uncertain future.
Starring:
Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-Kate Olsen, Jane Adams, Method Man, Aaron Yoo, Talia Balsam, David Wohl, Bob Dishy, Joanna Merlin, Shannon Briggs, Roy Milton Davis, Alexander Flores.
Directed By:
Jonathan Levine
Release:
2009
Watch the Trailer:
