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Quint loves THE WACKNESS!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. It’s early in the fest and I’ve already seen 2 movies I love unconditionally. IN BRUGES, the Focus Features opening night film and THE WACKNESS, an indie without distribution. However, after seeing the premiere, feeling the audience buzz and laugh and react and seeing just how damn good the movie is I’m sure the filmmakers are brokering a deal right this very minute.
I wouldn’t be surprised if THE WACKNESS becomes the “big sell” of this year’s festival. It really is that good.
It stars Josh Peck in a career-making performance as a teenage drug dealer. Original, right? It’s all in the execution. This isn’t like any drug dealer you’ve seen on film. In fact, I didn’t ever really look at him as a drug dealer type. He’s more of an awkward teen, a character more at home in a dark SUPERBAD movie than a “drug dealer” movie.
Peck was fantastic in MEAN CREEK a couple years back, but this is his moment to shine. He has the same kind of quiet vulnerability that Pacino had early in his career. Picture Pacino mixed with David Krumoltz and you get a good idea of Peck in this film.
It’s a movie about first time love and the oddest friendships that happen in life. This is at once a dark romantic comedy and a buddy picture. In this case Peck falls into an uneasy friendship with a pot-head psychiatrist (played beautifully by Ben Kingsley) who trades time on the couch for little green bags. Oh, and Kingsley is also the step-father to Steph, the gorgeous girl that has Peck’s heart drumming in his chest.
And not only Peck’s heart. The absolutely stunning Olivia Thirlby plays Steph. You’ll probably remember her from JUNO as Ellen Page’s best friend. She is unbelievably hot in this movie and as a much appreciated added bonus, there’s actually a three-dimensional character underneath the hot bod. She’s fantastic in this movie.
In this film you see everything from Method Man as the cool-ass Reggae drug kingpin to a dog named Jesus Christ to Thirlby in an amazing bikini to Mary-Kate Olsen humping Kingsley to a homeless dude saying the immortal line “I stabbed my wife in the pussy.”
The flick is also set in 1994 and it feels like an early ‘90s movie. In film stock, camera tricks (I love the “Fuck You” steadicam shot… you’ll know it when you see it), in framing and editing. Yeah, there are a lot of early ‘90s jokes, too, but for whatever reason they didn’t fall flat or feel forced like you’d expect a joke about dropping acid at a Phish concert to be.
It’s not an easy film to label. It’s a comedy, it’s a drama, it’s just great. Whatever the mixture is that writer/director Jonathan Levine whipped up it works.
Levine also did the interesting sub-million buck horror flick ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE. I liked that movie and after finding out it was made for under a million dollars I was blown away by that movie. But THE WACKNESS I have zero reservations about. It’s an incredible movie.
The crowd was amazingly receptive to the film, the most energized I’ve seen any of the Sundance audiences. Everyone I’ve talked to so far loves this movie. It’s the real deal.
Okay, I need to pass out for a few hours before my next day. I have a few good looking films on the schedule as well as my first scheduled interview of the fest… with noneother than Jack Black and Michel Gondry for BE KIND REWIND. Keep an eye out for that interview and my continuing coverage of the fest.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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never been first. this looks good
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looking forward to Be Kind..Rewind
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Should never be mentioned in the same sentence. Ever. Why does Apatow insist on putting that guy in all his movies and TV shows? I'm speaking, of course, about Pacino. I didn't buy him at all in Freaks and Geeks. He seemed way too, I don't know, mature.
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Or I'm going to be so mad. Grrrr.
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Wow, good to know that he probably will have a career. I kinda like him.
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is in a good movie again. Man does pick some stinkers.
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Typical fanboy panty-wetting... zzzzzzz
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Haven't even seen this movie yet and already I regard it as an instant classic.
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ruined Cloverfield. sorry. pretty much sums it up. You never get to see anything cool. its like sex without the climax. If its going to be told from the point of view of a few regular people, the people have to be interesting. but these people were generic horror caricatures. they were boring and whiny.
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I'm sick of that. How about a light comedy for a change?
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Is it the same Olsen who was on Lance Armstrong a few months ago? Dirty old men are getting their due.
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Edgy roles in unwatched indie movies until people take you seriously or at least see you're trying. Look at Macaulay Culkin.
'New York Fscking Minute'? That was your transition? I should be an agent... -
The 90s. A hilarious turn of events when, in the opening scene, the pyschiatrist starts smoking pot! Ahhhh! The hijinks! We totally turn everything on its head. This movie sounds like death and every hipster POS that I try to avoid when going to the movies. Go see Cloverfield and forget you ever read this review. Oh, but don't forget the buzzzzzz that this amazing Sundance film has generated!
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I mean I love your reviews man, very well written, but didn't you also love Juno and Little Miss Sunshine? This ironic quirkiness in indie films is something that needs to die. It pisses me off cause often these films portray themselves as little slice-of-life dramadies and that couldn't be more disingenuous given how terribly unrealistic and built for an audiences viewing pleasure they are. I mean he gets done with his therapy session and then the therapist pulls out a huge bong??? C'mon.
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WTF?
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I'm glad Peck's branching out, he always seemed too talented for that Nickelodion drivel
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Hah, I KNEW Peck would rise above "Drake and Josh" (particularly after he lost like 80 pounds) and the Nick crowd to do something great. I see him as a successor to Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- that is, a former child/teen TV actor who becomes an indie film darling. This is great news, and I'm very happy about his success. Can't wait to see the movie, too.
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Jan 21, 2008 11:35:07 PM CST
Crack is Wack! And Whitney Houston's got the Wackness!
by mrmysteryguest
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Jan 21, 2008 11:36:28 PM CST
This film's stars are on a collision course with wackiness!
by mrmysteryguest
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