The Wackness

We are in New York in 1994 - a fact hammered home in Jonathan Levine's movie with the considerable force of hip-hop parlance, nods to Rudolph Giuliani and Nirvana. Our focus is the life of Luke (Josh Peck), a surly, introverted teen who hails from a relatively poor background and earns his pocket money by selling pot. One of his customers is a psychiatrist named Dr Squires (Ben Kingsley) who pays Luke not in hard cash but in therapy. Squires, though, is himself a little bit wayward, struggling to maintain his marriage while making out with a young stoner (Mary-Kate Olsen). Luke, meanwhile, is falling in love with Squires's daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby) - a contrastingly carefree, optimistic and thoroughly popular young woman. The familiar territory of the coming-of-age drama is given new life here, largely due to a sweet, soft gentleness that permeates The Wackness. In mood and inconsequentialness, but also in sure-fire charmingness, it recalls Reality Bites - another movie that deals with growing up, falling in love, and just happened to be released in 1994.  ·