The Wackness
Hmph. Well, I promised myself under threat of extermination that I would write about this one if it killed me since I’ve missed another batch of reviews (I’ll get to them, most likely repeat viewings will help me come up with something to say) and I just need to force myself to write. But, again, it’s a 2008 movie about which little can be said. I wanted to see this movie for a long time which sets it apart from a lot of this year’s stuff from the start. The funky title plus an Olsen twin where you wouldn’t expect to find an Olsen twin were enough for starters. When I found out it had Josh – Drake and Josh Josh, Josh Peck – in it too, plus Ben Kingsley not exactly being Ben Kingsley, it really looked promising and a screenplay nod at next year’s Oscars seemed (and still seems) like a shoe-in (it’s just that kind of movie – I don’t know).
But … meh. It’s all well and good. At the start, the 90s references threaten to become embarrassing: a Forrest Gump bus ad here, a gameboy there, beepers a whole character in themselves – “Has this got something to do with Kurt Cobain?” Kingsley (playing a psychotherapist) asks Peck at one point. But as the movie progresses, these gimmicky nods practically disappear entirely and are more notable by their absence, being as they were the movie’s most interesting aspect. By the end, it’s the kind of indie coming of age drama that’s been done many, many times before. For the 90s nostalgia, ironically, I’d sooner pull out a movie from the very year in which this one is set, Reality Bites (it’s similar in other ways too). For the coming of age stuff … boy, just take your pick. Don’t get me wrong, it’s kooky and quirky and all the actors do fine, particularly Kingsley – but it’s nothing special whatsoever.