There's a kid who won't be working for Disney anymore...

2009 has not been my year for movies--am hitting about 50/50 on quality (normally, I'd rate about 10-15% of the movies I watch as bad). The bad movies have been really bad (DeNiro and Pacino should have to return their Oscars after Righteous Kill), and the good movies have been passable.

But all that's going to change now, if The Wackness is an omen. This was a really good movie--poignant, profound, sad, laugh-out-loud funny. Frequently in the same line of dialogue. This is one of those small indie flicks that really deserves a much larger audience than it will ever receive.

I really need to pinpoint the time when Ben Kingsley become the comic genius. He was one of the very few things Cusak et al. got right with War, Inc., he was great in Lucky Number Slevin, and his portrayal of the Polish mob hitman working his way through AA's Twelve Steps in You Kill Me was inspired. This role was just as good--a drug-addicted psychiatrist trading therapy for marijuana from his step-daughter's high school classmate/dealer. I think we backed up the DVD three times to watch him quote the Notorious BIG--although it was the hand gestures that sealed his delivery.

Josh Peck, of Disney Channel's Drake & Josh, impressed me more than I thought he ever could as the dope-peddling high school loser, pining for Olivia Thirlby while dealing with his family problems and getting ready to go to college.

It's the relationship--shrink/client, dealer/client, mentor/mentee, and eventually friends that drives this film. Yes, there are romances, flings, families, but it's about these two relating to each other, learning from each other that makes the film.
Thrilby (Juno's BFF) was almost as impressive--getting the chance to shine outside of Ellen Page's shadow. Mary-Kate Olsen was decent, but the sooner I get the image of her going to second base with Kingsley the better I'll sleep at night. ('going to second base' isn't my phrase, it was Kingsley's character's). Jane Adams was Jane Adams, 'bout the only way I can think of to say that. Her scene with Kingsley was a testimony to what a good actor can do with only their eyes--especially if they're reacting to an actor doing just as well with theirs.

Jonathan Levine's sophomore attempt at direction likely secured him a few more shots, but it's his writing that'll keep bread on his table--great screenplay, I hope he's working on his next.

Fair warning: the depictions of sex and drug use are very explicit, and the discussions of both are as well. Other than that, I give this a wholehearted recommendation.