by Nick Nash

Created on: December 29, 2009   Last Updated: December 30, 2009

Josh Peck stars as Luke Shapiro, a drug-dealing student, in this coming of age drama/ comedy directed by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane). Shapiro falls for Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) who is the daughter of his psychiatrist Dr Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley) for whom he also supplies drugs. Squires is going through something of a midlife crisis with a marriage breaking down and a career at a standstill. He begins a strange friendship with Shapiro, which ultimately forms the backbone of this film with the romance being something of a subplot. 

This is a classic stoner indy movie in the truest tradition with quirky characters and a script brimming with innocuous small talk. It is slow paced to the point of maudlin at points but on the whole works as a charming quirky buddy movie. 

The performances by the two leads are very good. Kingsley shows how diverse an actor he can be with a wonderful portrayal of a drug obsessed and juvenile psychiatrist stuck in a hopeless, loveless marriage and looking for an escape. His performance is both comically well pitched but with a great amount of pathos too. Mostly though he proves how adept he can be in a comic role and it's a shame that he chooses over the top thespianism over this on occasion. He certainly provides the lion share of the laughs here and lifts this film from mediocrity. 

Josh Peck supports admirably as the drug dealer playing one of the most realistic on screen stoners in cinema history. The performance is unusually sensitive given the part and the character comes across as naive (odd given his profession) and a romantic. From director Levine this is an interesting twist and makes for more enjoyable viewing. 

The sub plot between Shapiro and Stephanie is charming but you feel never adds that much to the film as a whole although a coming of age film would hardly be that without an unconventional romance. It allows for some comic moments and a great deal of squirming awkwardness! 

The direction and cinematography are good throughout although at times the film feels stylistically a little more like a television commercial than a motion picture. 

In all, The Wackness is very entertaining viewing. The film begins very slowly and with few laughs but ignites as soon as Shapiro and Squires' friendship develops and Squires gets a little more out of hand in his antics.

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