Calgary Underground Film Festival 2008

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. THE WACKNESS takes place in a very different time: a time of pagers, not cell phones, a time in which Tupac and Biggie were alive, one in which Kurt Cobain had only recently taken his own life. 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.

“The Wackness has the polish of a hip music video with the rawness of a gritty documentary.”-Slashfilm, Peter Sciretta

AWARDS:
Winner, Audience Award for Best Dramatic Film; 2008 Sundance Film Festival

OFFICIAL SELECTION:
Sundance 2008, San Francisco International Film Festival