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The wackness - Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Johnathan Levine

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Sometimes it's right to do the wrong things.

New York City, 1994: a city pulsing with hip-hop, a city whose new mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is using controversial methods to address homelessness and crime. Much like the city, Luke (Josh Peck) and Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley) are at a crossroads: Luke considers himself semi-suicidal, bemoaning his high school social status and the fact that his family is on the verge of eviction; Dr Squires and his rehab-addicted wife (Famke Janssen) can barely tolerate each other. Together, Luke and Squires agree to help each other find happiness. However, Luke's attention turns to Dr Squires' stepdaughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), which in turn, causes the already fragile Doctor to lose it completely...

Set against the backdrop of the greatest year in hip-hop history - 1994 - The wackness takes place in a very different time: a time of pagers not cell phones, a time in which Tupac and Biggie were alive, one in which Kurt Cobain had only recently taken his own life. The film uses this world as a backdrop for a very different story: one with humour, pathos, sex, drugs, and beats.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film drama drugs relationship Nineties 90s New York Hip-hop romance teen sex summer marijuana therapy

Persons of interest

Ben Kingsley .... Dr Squires
Famke Janssen .... Kristin Squires
Josh Peck .... Luke Shapiro
Olivia Thirlby .... Stephanie
Mary-Kate Olsen .... Union
Jane Adams .... Elanor
Method Man .... Percy
Aaron Yoo .... Justin
Talia Balsam .... Mrs Shapiro
David Wohl .... Mr Shapiro
Bob Dishy .... Grandpa Shapiro
Joanna Merlin .... Grandma Shapiro
Ken Marks .... Oliver
Robert Armstrong .... Principle Edwards
Sean Dillon .... Gruden
Nick Schutt .... Albert
Jonathan Levine .... Screenwriter
Jonathan Levine .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The wackness official movie site
The wackness film production notes
The wackness QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Sundance Film Festival 2008: Won: Audience Award - Dramatic (Jonathan Levine); Nominated: Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic (Jonathan Levine)

Studios and distributors:

Madman Cinema

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

The wackness is one of those coming-of-age while losing your virginity over a hot summer in the city before going to university movies that say a whole lot about people without seeming to say very much at all. It's a hot, sweaty, dusty kind of art-house film that puts the d back into drama.

Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck are insane together. Their characters are clearly not with the programme and they do everything that they can to make their lives better while shooting themselves in the foot. Nicely written and performed. There are some nice 90s references, too, if you can remember the 90s. Hee, hee, hee.

Enjoy.

The drama movie The wackness is directed by Johnathan Levine and stars Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby.