My gym is right next to one of the best movie theatres in the world. So before I went running yesterday I decided to see “The Wackness” starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck. It’s the story of Luke Shapiro, a pot dealer who just graduated from high school and the parallels of his problems (girls) with that of his middle aged Psychiatrist and client. Its set in 1994 New York and the pop culture references were a bit heavy, like they were trying to induce early nostalgia of a time not so long ago,  but overall the movie was pretty good. The one appropriate reference was to the emergence of The Notorious B.I.G. and the soundtrack supported the relationship between the old guard and the new. It had Indie-pacing (that medium slow character development thing) but I really felt the themes of it. Supporting characters played by Famke Janssen, Mary-Kate Olsen, Olivia Thirlby and Method Man (bad Jamaican accent though, Johnny Blaze) were pretty solid. The overall grainy look of this film worked to ad warzone like grit to Guiliani’s “Let’s Clean Up New York” era and the set and setting make it a pretty good Summer flick. Catch it at your local arthouse if you get the chance.

The Wackness directed by Jonathan Levine gets 7.5/10 - Points deducted for the nostalgia card and the uncomfortably stoned feeling I got from watching a High School Pot Dealer try to emote. And does every movie have to start with Lou Reed’s “Take A Walk On the Wild Side” end with Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes?”

I’m available if someone wants to hire me as a music supervisor.