Porta's Look!...The Wackness

The Wackness provided a fun story with serious elements and fantastic humor delivered by quirky likeable characters.

-the portastylistic





The Wackness is the dopeness. Definitely worth checking. Besides the music, there was some nostalgic references from that time period for the true heads, like the Danücht t-shirt the lead character wears and the Source Magazine with Eazy E on the cover the love interest thumbs through. My boy Elijah Torn's pops did a great job on the score. Watch the trailer below...

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The Wackness seems to have everything going for it. It was Sony Pictures Classics' big Sundance acquisition this year, and comes into Tribeca riding a wave of buzz. It co-stars your new indie crush Olivia Thirlby. It's opening this summer in a savvy counter-programming move. So why are we going to go out on a limb and predict a lot of dismissive, negative reviews for the 1994-set coming-of-age movie? Because of its press notes.

Specifically, the "Slang Dictionary" that sits in the middle of the film's press packet, a rich target of mockery that offers straight-faced definitions of such arcane terms as "blunt," "peace out," and "breasteses" ("Noun. Plural form of breast").

It reads like the result of some late-night publicity brainstorming session that should've been nipped in the cold light of morning. It is guaranteed to make reviewers more inclined to hate the movie; The Wackness already runs the risk of feeling overly mannered, what with lines like "I got mad love for you, homegirl," and many reviewers are going to have their poseur-o-meters set off when they read a definition for "ganja."

Our Riedelesque prediction: If Sony Pictures Classics ditches the "Slang Dictionary," their Rotten Tomatoes score will improve by 15 percent. If not, we think they might be illin'. ("Verb, variant of ill. Doing things that can get you in trouble, i.e. vandalism, doing drugs, etc.")

nymag

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The Wackness

It’s the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana—but change is in the air. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen,and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story.

Genre:Drama
Director:Jonathan Levine
Cast:Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen, Mary-Kate Olsen

"BEN KINGSLEY IS
EXTRAORDINARY!"
-LEONARD MALTIN, REELZCHANNEL.


"HILARIOUS AND HEARTFELT!
JOSH PECK AND OLIVIA THIRLBY ARE TERRIFIC!"
-PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE.

The Wackness looks REAL TIGHT though, people! Check your local listing to see where this movie drops in your area and buy the soundtrack filled with classic hip-hop tracks!


The Wackness Soundtrack

more on...The Wackness

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" F%^@*ING FANTASTIC! "

-the portastylistic