New York City, circa 1994: it’s a summer of hip-hop, girls, dope, and dealing for college-bound teenager Luke. Watch an exclusive alternate teaser for Sony Pictures Classics’ The Wackness, starring Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, and Ben Kingsley.
Writer-director Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) sets us adrift on memory bliss in his second feature film, a comic drama about teenage pot dealer Luke (Josh Peck) and his marijuana-smoking therapist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley) living and learning their way through New York City in the summer of 1994.
Along the way the duo encounters Luke’s colorful clients (including Mary-Kate Olsen and Method Man) and Luke falls for Squires’ step-daughter (Juno‘s Olivia Thirlby); Levine sets it all to the throwback sounds of Biz Markie, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang, and more to recreate an autobiographical version of the coming-of-age soundtrack to his own life.
Fresh off winning the Audience Awards at Sundance and last week’s Los Angeles Film Festival (click for more L.A. Film Festival coverage), The Wackness is at 70 percent on the Tomatometer. See it in limited release this Friday.
