By: debbie lynn elias
Obviously more than a few of you took heed of my Los Angeles Film Festival recommendations for “Must See Festival Films” and caught the sneak preview of THE WACKNESS as by the Festival’s close on June 29, THE WACKNESS whacked its competition in the Audience Award portion of the Festival and walked away with the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Now, the rest of you will have the chance to see the most WACKTASTIC film of the summer!
The summer of 1994 is an interesting time in New York City. An oppressive heat waves blankets the City. Newly elected Mayor Rudy Giuliani is cracking down on everything from crimes to crack dealers to loud radios and graffiti. East Coast hip hop blares from apartment and car windows alike. And Luke Shapiro is spending his last summer before college making ends meet selling marijuana from an ice cream vending cart while getting high and undergoing therapy with a wanna-be-hip psychologist, Dr. Jeff Squires, who just happens to be paid with pot. Ironically, the two have a couple of other common bonds as well – unstable home lives (Luke’s father can’t make ends meet forcing Luke to peddle his pot even harder as a means to help take care of his mother and himself, while Squires is in a marriage that ended a long time ago submerging him in the wallow of in sorrow and self-pity) and most importantly, they both want to get laid. And just for a little intrigue, Luke happens to be a virgin with an eye for Squires’ beautiful, “popular” and worldly stepdaughter, Stephanie. And as for Squires, well, he may as well be a virgin.
Toss in a summer home on Fire Island, a romantic getaway in Barbados, a phone booth in a seedy bar and a big summer cash clientele, and it looks like our heroes may both find what they seek. Or do they? Typically I don’t do spoilers but, at the behest of numerous fans of the film and filmmakers from LAFF, I will say this: Yes, Luke does lose his virginity to the sexy Stephanie, however, as you guys and gals sit and reminisce about your “first time” don’t forget to recall your own trials, tribulations, trepidation and often less than explosive results which may give you an inkling into the antics of Luke and Stephanie. As for Squires, ya gotta see it to believe it!
The leading and supporting performances of every player in this film are more than impressive, impeccably timed and always right on the money. As for Josh Peck and Sir Ben Kingsley, as Luke and Squires, respectively, their nuanced deliveries are pure Oscar gold. Through them, we are given intimate character studies of the two most unlikely pairings of friends, but everything is brought full circle thanks to the interweavings of the actions of others that give credence to each of their characters. The two of them are not only a delight but mesmerizing. Each not only excels at their timing, but their facial expressiveness completes and compliments their characters. Their character arcs are unbelievable and the two constantly vacillate in who is the doctor, who is the patient. Who is the parent, who is the child. And to watch the relationship between Squires and Luke grow and blossom is heartwarming.
I will watch Josh Peck in anything. My admiration for him has only grown as I have watched his performances mature over the years since doing his first Disney series with Amanda Bynes. He is a face to watch in the next couple of years. As Luke, he has a nonchalant intensity that smolders, yet when he smiles, he lights up the screen. His joy and excitement is uncontainable, just as his heartbreak is unconsolable. At his young age, Josh has an emotional tapestry to rival every veteran actor out there. Even more impressive is his humility and appreciation for his craft, his success. And following in the footsteps of a classy guy named Clooney, despite making the big screen leap, still honors his legions of Disney fans and is returning to his roots as Josh Nichols in the ongoing “Drake & Josh” series and their upcoming big screen adventure “Drake & Josh in New York!”
Talking about Oscar gold, one need look no further than Sir Ben Kingsley. As I have said since the moment I saw this film, if Ben Kingsley doesn’t garner that little gold Oscar statuette for this performance, or at least a nomination, every Academy member should be kicked out and replaced. The character of Jeff Squires is the antithesis of any role he has ever had and he goes at it full tilt with unabashed aplomb, joy and fun. His timing, facial nuances, physicality. Kingsley is the complete package of perfection.
For Peck, working with “Sir Ben” is a dream come true. “Sir Ben has been my favorite actor since I was 12 years old and I saw ‘Searching for Bobby Fisher”. Now in hindsight I see some of the things that it instigated in me and it elicits such emotion. I think all those great performances do that where it can really make something inside of you feel something that otherwise might have gone dormant or bring up an emotion that you didn’t think was gonna come up. For me, it’s everything he [Sir Ben] does has such high stakes. Everything he says is do or die in a movie and I think that might be just a small percentage of why he is as good as he is.”
But the WOW performance factor continues with Olivia Thirlby. Best known as the best friend of last year’s Oscar winning “Juno”, she steps to the forefront as a leading lady with her take on Stephanie, a girl more physically mature and skilled than any parent would like their daughter to be at 17, but who also has a vulnerability, insecurity and decency hidden beneath a tough, self-absorbed exterior. As Thirlby recently opined, “I think that she definitely has good intentions. Stephanie wouldn’t waste her time with somebody she didn’t like. She’s not manipulative. But on the other hand, she probably doesn’t handle the situation [her relationship with Luke] with maturity or finesse.” Calling on personal experience, “I tried to make her a lot of different things. I hope that I made her kind of understandable because we’ve all been in that position.”
It is rare that magic like that shared by Peck and Thirlby leaps from the screen as if lightening bolts from a magic wand, but here, the chemistry between the two is so fluid, so kinetic, so symbiotic, one has to wonder if the relationship required a lot of work to achieve its specialness. According to Thirlby, “It naturally happened. . .I remember sitting there with him, smoking cigarettes as us, and reading the scenes in a casual way and it was just, we were Luke and Stephanie. Nothing more was needed other than us just being ourselves.” This could explain why the two are again paired in the much anticipated “Safety Glass.”
The supporting cast is nothing short of stellar out-of-the-box performances starting with the always delightful and quirky Jane Adams as the loving lost pot-smoking soul, Elanor. But then take a look at Mary Kate Olsen and Method Man. As the hippie free-love, mushroom eating, pot-smoking Union, Mary Kate Olsen is ethereal and mystical in this Muselike character. Her carefree elan is joyously free, embracing life and love…..even love in the form of Kingsley’s Dr. Squires – a scene that catapults Olsen into total adulthood. Goodbye Michele Tanner! But don’t stop there as Method Man gets in on the act as Jamaican pot supplier Percy. He steals every scene he is in – even going toe to toe with Kingsley.
As impressive as the acting is, I can’t say enough about the quality of the story and the script. Jonathan Levine, as writer and director nails it from every angle. This film is written and directed with a great affectation and love. Each character is so finely tuned. The dialogue appropriate, timely for the era and REAL; truly all due to Levine’s 1994 – a date that will live in infamy for him. He graduated high school in 1994 and clearly loved his youth. Everything is a pleasure to watch (even a “Fly Girls” subway sequence). There are no questions or uncertainties. There is a place for everyone and everything and everyone and everything is in that place. Everything – as convoluted as the life of each is – makes perfect sense and in the grand scheme of things, fit together like a perfect puzzle. There are no missing pieces. The heart and soul of the film is the script. Intelligent, thoughtful, funny, funny, funny – but NOT your slapstick funny. The dialogue is so well chosen that the laughs stay with you long after the lines have been said. This script so eloquently portrays and conveys life – be it good bad or indifferent and no matter what, in order to survive you have to find the laughter.
Technically, the film is equally superlative. Cinematographer Petra Korner provides a graininess that is not only period appropriate but conveys the grit of the City, the sign of the times. Josh Noyes’ editing is out of the norm and brings interesting “artsy” aspects to the film. Tying it all together is the soundtrack. Period perfect, including a few tracks from the incredible hip hop sound of Wu Tang Clan whose lead singer just happens to be the man with the method, Method Man himself. And here’s some trivia for you – Method Man had no idea one of WTC’s tracks was being included in the film until it’s first screening at Sundance. He was in the audience. Talk about a surprise!
What can I say? THE WACKNESS is the most WACKTASTIC, FAN -*$&%ING-TASTIC film of the year!
Luke – Josh Peck
Jeff Squires – Sir Ben Kingsley
Stephanie – Olivia Thirlby
Percy – Method Man
Written and Directed by Jonathan Levine. Rated R. (110 min)
