Review: The Wackness

The Wackness

Opening Date: 07/03/2008

STUDIO: Sony

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
Sometimes it’s right to do the wrong things.

Opening Statement
Every metro-city has its own atmosphere, its own history, its own personality. From Los Angeles to Chicago to New York, there is no denying each city and its residents maintain its own distinct character. The Wackness is undoubtedly a story defined by urban New York life. It captures the animosity of urban youth, during a period where Generation X reached its peak immediately after it was labeled. It’s also one of the best films to come out of Sundance 2008.

Facts of the Case
NYC, Summer 1994. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck, Havoc) has just graduated from high school. He has no idea what direction his life will take and lingering threats of debt compel his family to consider moving to New Jersey. During one of the hottest summers on record, Luke spends his days selling dope on the streets, under the cover of selling ice, and deciding whether or not to act on the advances of his psychiatrist’s step-daughter whom he has had a crush on all through high school. Meanwhile, newly-inaugurated mayor Rudy Giuliani begins cracking down on the solicitation of marijuana and noisy loitering in the city, while the city’s underground hip-hop scene is thriving into the mainstream.

The Evidence
It is easy to simplify The Wackness as Juno meets Garden State. Its protagonist, Luke Shapiro (Peck), maintains what has become the typical male-protagonist for the me-generation of coming of age stories. Luke is despondent, reclusive, and sympathetic. He states his parents “act like children” when they argue and he picks up the slack to pay the bills by selling dope on the street. Luke isn’t popular in school, declaring he’s the most unpopular kid in his class, but that claim in and of itself is notable enough to entail some sort of notoriety.

The Wackness has the liveliness and eccentricities of modern American independent film. Luke regularly goes to a shrink, Dr. Jeffrey Squires (Ben Kingsley, Schindler’s List), whom he pays with the money he earns selling weed. At a graduation party, Luke runs into Dr. Squires’s daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby, Juno), who begins to flirt with him. Her boyfriend has just left on a trip to Amsterdam and it is uncertain if they have broken up. And as with Juno and Garden State, The Wackness has a defining soundtrack filled with notable mid ’90s artists, such as Nas, The Fresh Prince, the Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., and even some Lou Reed.

What sets this film apart from its predecessors is how it projects Luke to its city, New York. This coming of age film is not confined by adolescence. There are three crisis at stake here: The direction Luke will take to become a man; the decisions his shrink, Dr. Squires, makes amidst a mid-life crisis and failing marriage; and the urban explosion that occurs when hip-hop emerges as a dominant NYC sub-culture. The relationship between Luke and Squires, and their respective relationships to the city are the subtle elements that make The Wackness an entity all its own and, in some ways, superior to the many of the coming-of-age films that have become a staple in American independent film.

What’s refreshing about Luke Shapiro is that he has an innocence about him. He isn’t disillusioned by the world. He just doesn’t consider himself a part of it. When he confronts this problem with Squires, he says he is suicidal. Squires retorts Luke just needs sex, projecting his own desires onto Luke and telling him to enjoy his best years while he still can. As the two men travel through NYC, Squires complains how the city has changed. There used to be life in the city where a man could smoke, drink, and cavort with anyone on a first meeting. The city plays a prominent role exemplified by a poignant scene where Luke shows Squires how to graffiti tag. The two wind up in jail only to be bailed out by Stephanie, a sly device for Stephanie and Luke to go on their first date.

Ben Kingsley gives one of his best performances since Sexy Beast. Dr. Squires probably was a hippie back in the 1960s, but he never left. His expectations for life have betrayed him, stuck in an unloving and unexciting marriage and convinced his best years are behind him. It’s obvious he sees himself in Luke, and tries to prepare him for the bitter truth that “life doesn’t get better than this.” The real truth is that Squires is a failed suicidal, regularly taking a combination of uppers and downers just to get through the day. His relationship with Luke is the only anchor keeping him from succeeding. The camaraderie between these two men is handled wonderfully. There is not a single moment of insincerity when the two are together on screen.

Where the movie takes a more traditional turn is the love story between Luke and Stephanie. Stephanie, of course, is quite the quirky one, a girl that Luke would be too smitten and afraid to approach. It’s no surprise that she gives the titular line of the film telling Luke he needs to “stop looking at the wackness of things and just look at the dopeness.” Olivia Thirlby, the best friend in Juno, grounds the idiosyncratic Stephanie with an approachability that is absent in all the other supporting characters.

If I haven’t mentioned Josh Peck’s performance as Luke, it’s because all of the praise I have given to The Wackness is also praise for his work. The quality of his performance is synonymous with the quality of the film, embodying everything from the city to the music. It’s easy to play the typical stoner or the typical loner. In a genre where narcissism is the most defining characteristic of the protagonist, Peck presents Luke as teenager that’s empathetic rather than apathetic.

First-time director Jonathan Levine gives The Wackness a tone that’s appropriate for its time period. The plot is divided into the summer months and throughout the film he drops hints on the development of Guilini’s efforts in the city and its emerging hip-hop sound. There is a dependency on linking continuity with music tracks, but this grievance is eclipsed by the skill he shows in editing camera movements between these scenes and some very clever and surprising angles. Levine, who also wrote the screenplay, has a distinct voice and if I am weary to see his next film, it’s because this is such as personal film that I fear that his next endeavor will lack the same emotional investment.

The film won the Audience Award at 2008’s Sundance Film Festival and after watching the film it comes as no surprise. While film’s love story isn’t one of the most original in cinematic history, and the muted payoff suffers the typical quirkiness that comes from current American independent film, these complaints should not hinder your experience. The Wackness is greater than the sum of its parts; a film that transcends a genre that has become stale, predictable, and mediocre.

Rebuttal Witnesses
The story plays too much on nostalgia, requiring us to know the city, the music, and the culture. It’s easy to be blinded by the film’s presentation, but all that aside, it’s typical coming of age fare. When it comes down to it, The Wackness may ultimately be lost as a small film, with a cult following, and little substance in retrospect.

Closing Remarks
Rarely does such a personal film stand out, defining its characters, era, and setting with such care. The Wackness lives up to its buzz from Sundance. A must-see for anyone who is convinced that their best years are never behind him. Not Guilty.

The Verdict

9/10

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