The Wackness is a film by Jonathan Levine and starring Ben Kingsley Josh Peck Fa...

The Wackness is a film by Jonathan Levine starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Janssen Olivia Thirlby. The film is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics was released in the U.S. on July 3, 2008.Plot It's the summer of 1994, the streets of New York are pulsing with hip hop. Luke (Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues with his parents, a whopping lack of confidence with girls. He trades weed for sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), whose wife (Famke Janssen) is slipping away from him. Squires - a drug-addled shrink with a retreating hairline a state of mind slouching back to adolescence - is a terrible role model. But the two of them forge a friendship based on a mutual need: neither one has a girl friend. The intergenerational duo set off on a crawl that takes them all over New York, where they encounter several of Luke's "business associates," including a dreadlocked pixie (Mary-Kate Olsen), a one-hit-wonder (Jane Adams), Luke's supplier (Method Man). Luke has long had an aching crush on Dr. Squires' way-out-of-his-league stepdaughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), is stunned at his good luck when she returns his affections. Luke's innocent first love experience with Stephanie becomes a life lesson that sets him on the pathway towards adulthood. And when Squires breaks down, it is up to the younger man to throw the older one a lifeline. Cast - Ben Kingsley as Dr. Jeffrey Squires - Famke Janssen as Kristin Squires - Josh Peck as Luke Shapiro - Olivia Thirlby as Stephanie Squires - Mary-Kate Olsen as Union - Jane Adams as Elanor - Method Man as Percy - Aaron Yoo as Justin - Talia Balsam as Mrs. Shapiro Taglines "Sometimes it's right to do the wrong things." "The girls were fly. The music was dope. And Luke was just trying to deal." Production Filming wrapped up on August 24, 2007. The Wackness was awarded the Audience Award for Dramatic Film at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Reception Roger Ebert gave the movie 3 out of 4 stars. On Metacritic, the movie gathered a general score of 61. Background Jonathan Levine claims the movie is semi-autobiographical. "'I wish I could say that I sold pot I had a shrink like Ben Kingsley, but no, it wasn't like that,' admits Jonathan Levine . . . 'It's the details the backdrop, a lot of the perspective of this kid the way that he looks at the world,' explains Levine . . . .'The Stephanie character, I guess, is a composite of a few different ladies who broke up with me,' Levine says with a laugh. 'That happened.'" The movie is not in fact based on the biographical essay of an actual Mr. Shapiro, who had sold pot in New York around the time the movie is based in, whose family dysfunction resulted in an isolated anti social upbringing, including the issues of sex portrayed in the movie, culminating in psychiatric counseling sessions. Excerpts from the essay, circulated in 2004 among social circles fraternal networks, read as follows: "In college I drifted aimlessly. Simultaneously making me happy, pot made me content, complacent... docile... Creeping over me was the feeling that I would soon be expected to provide for myself, college would not provide refuge; I no longer had a place in academics. I devised an utterly crackpot plan. I would return to New York become a musician." "Family counseling consisted of visiting a psychiatrist at his office. No discussion of my past was made. He simply picked up the lecture where my father left off. Speaking slowly, mouth indefinitely curled around the last pronounced syllable as if tying to convey a child's logic to an infant together with his pointed stare, the quack intoned his one-way discussions. Music According to a review in the Dallas Morning News: "Beyond what worked tonewise, a lot of it speaks to what's going on in the movie," Mr. Levine said during a visit to Dallas last month. "There's that 'Heaven & Hell' song [by Raekwon] when Josh is up on a water tower looking down, it's asking, 'Is high school heaven o. is it hell?' And 'Can I Kick It?' [by A Tribe Called Quest] plays when Kingsley's trying to kick drugs. So a lot of it just kind of worked thematically." Mr. Levine targeted the most iconic acts of the era, with Notorious B.I.G. on the top of his list. Luke Stephanie bond in Central Park over beer the sounds of his classic debut album, Ready to Die. "The What," a song from that album featuring Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man, who also appears in the film as Luke's supplier, leads off the soundtrack . . . . Mr. Levine says he considered expanding the film's sonic landscape to include Weezer Smashing Pumpkins, two of the year's biggest non-hip-hop acts, that the original ending featured Nirvana's "Lithium." Ultimately, tough choices refined the film's reach, which isn't such a bad thing. But that doesn't mean it was easy passing that other music up. Soundtrack 1. "The What" -- The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Method Man 2. "You Used To Love Me" -- Faith Evans 3. "Flava In Ya Ear" -- The Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, Rampage, LL Cool J Busta Rhymes 4. "Summertime" -- DJ Jazzy Jeff The Fresh Prince 5. "Can't You See" -- Total feat. The Notorious B.I.G. 6. "I Can't Wake Up" -- KRS-One 7. "The World Is Yours" -- Nas 8. "Can I Kick It?" -- A Tribe Called Quest 9. "Heaven & Hell" -- Raekwon 10. "Bump N' Grind" -- R. Kelly 11. "Just A Friend" -- Biz Markie 12. "Tearz" -- Wu-Tang Clan 13. "Long Shot Kick De Bucket" -- The Pioneers Songs Not Released on the Soundtrack 1. "Disarm" -- Smashing Pumpkins 2. "Bonita Applebum" -- A Tribe Called Quest 3. "93 'til Infinity" -- Souls Of Mischief 4. "Lost At Birth" -- Public Enemy 5. "It Was A Good Day" -- Ice Cube 6. "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" -- Pete Rock CL Smooth 7. "Electric Relaxation" -- A Tribe Called Quest 8. "C.R.E.A.M."--Wu-Tang Clan 9. "Out on the Weekend"--Neil Young 10. "Around The Way"--LL Cool J 11. "Things Done Changed"--The Notorious B.I.G. 12. "All the Young Dudes"--Mott the Hoople Book Revolver Books published a novelization of the film, written by Dale C. Phillips. References 1. The Wackness at ComingSoon! 2. Sundance 2008 Winners Revealed » Screenhead.com - So much in Love with Movies 3. Metacritic 4. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/steven_rea/20080713_On_Movies___Wackness__writer_s_life_not_quite_so_wacky.htmlx 5. My Father Sucks More Than Yours: The truth about David Harry Shapiro : I Hate My Dad Personal Stories & Experiences. Read Share True Stories, Learn Support 6. Hip-hop music of mid-'90s defines new movie 'The Wackness' | GuideLive.com | Arts/Entertainment News Events | Dallas-Fort Worth | The Dallas Morning News | Music This page uses content from the movies page on the English version of Wikipedia & is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Wildscreen.tv disclaims any & all warranties as to the accuracy o. reliability of the content. Permission is granted to copy, distribute &/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 o. any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.