Entertainment, Movies - Navy Times

Film Review: ‘The Wackness’

Luke Shapiro is an interesting case in “The Wackness,” Jonathan Levine’s offbeat coming-of-age story.

Here’s how the summer of 1994 is shaping up for Luke: He has graduated from high school and is waiting to drift off to his “safety” college. His parents are in danger of losing their apartment, as a result of some sort of business deal that went sour. He’s selling marijuana out of a flavored-ice cart; he’s a pretty frequent sampler of his product, as well. He’s trading dope for sessions with a psychiatrist, whose stepdaughter he’s falling in love with.

Not your typical movie hero, in other words. And yet, played with a brilliant slacker vibe by Josh Peck, Luke is definitely the soul of the film. And that’s saying something when Ben Kingsley is chewing up all the available scenery with the voracity of a dope-smoker with the munchies as Dr. Squires, the psychiatrist — a performance that includes long, deep soul kisses with Mary-Kate Olsen. (All together now: Yuck.)

And yes, it’s that Josh Peck, known mostly as the Josh half of “Drake & Josh,” an eminently forgettable and vaguely irritating ’tween show on Nickelodeon. This has to rank as one of the biggest departures from a kid-star persona since former Mouseketeer Britney Spears started sporting bikinis onstage and dancing with snakes (and those days seem innocent in retrospect).

Levine, who wrote the film as well as directed, re-creates 1994 with the painstaking detail usually reserved for period pieces and costume dramas. That might not seem like such a difficult trick, or a necessary one, but once you’re grooving to the sounds of the Notorious B.I.G. along with Luke, or hearing Squires ask, “This isn’t about Kurt Cobain, is it?” you’ll find it impressive in its way.

Olivia Thirlby, on the verge of becoming a full-fledged indie darling after winning turns in “Snow Angels” and “Juno,” is on hand as Stephanie, Squires’ stepdaughter. Stephanie is experienced in areas that Luke isn’t, not the least of which is sex. But not just that — she knows how to expertly navigate the vicious social circles of high school, another area in which Luke is hopelessly adrift.

It’s no great surprise, of course, that she eventually spends time with Luke, although at the beginning it’s more a matter of her friends being out of town for the summer than any sort of epiphany on her part that Luke is a decent guy.

The greatest strength of Thirlby’s performance, in fact, is found in Stephanie’s ignorance, in the things she doesn’t know. She is nearly oblivious, for instance, to the heartbreak she can cause without really meaning to.

She is upbeat, optimistic. Luke is not. As she puts it, in her best ’90s slang, “I look at the dopeness. You look at the wackness.” This is undoubtedly so, although perhaps it’s because he is simply more aware.

Squires and Luke, meanwhile, make for oddball running mates, with Squires doling out suspect advice to Luke while obviously needing the companionship as much as his erstwhile patient. Kingsley overdoes it on occasion, but he seems to be having such a good time that it’s not as off-putting as it might otherwise be. In fact, it’s rather fun. Squires is more lost than Luke, not quite sure what role he plays in his own life. He has a longing stronger than Luke’s, simply because he’s been missing out on happiness longer.

But it all comes back to Peck, who infuses Luke with a loveable-loser charm and carefully hidden drive that kicks into gear when needed. You get the idea that everything is eventually going to be OK for Luke — you certainly hope so.

After his revelatory performance in “The Wackness,” you get the same feeling about Peck, as well.

Rated: R for pervasive drug use, language and some sexuality.