Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summaryplot synopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsNews for
The Wackness (2008) More at IMDb Pro »
1-20 of 31 articles from 2008 « Prev | Next »
Movie Review - 'Elegy'
5 September 2008 12:00 AM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news
Starring Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz, and Dennis Hopper
Directed by Isabel Coixet
Rated R
Without looking, I'd say that love stories are probably the most common types of movies. That's because they can be disguised as any number of things, from musicals to murder mysteries. So to see one - a smart one, no less - that has no other pretense but to be an investigation of how a relationship works or doesn't work is a bit like walking a high wire without a net. I mean, Transformers has a love story in it.
Elegy is, for better or worse, about two people who fall in love while not meaning to. David (Sir Ben Kingsley) is a professor and art and literature critic. He was married once when he was a young man, left his wife and child because that life was not for him, and has never been in a deep relationship since.
(more)
Colin Boyd
Mary-Kate Goes by Ashley and Dreams of Bikini Time
26 August 2008 11:30 AM, PDT | From Popsugar.com | See recent Popsugar news
After her Pda-fest with boyfriend Nate in NYC on Friday, Mary-Kate Olsen jetted over to the West Coast for the Radiohead concert at Hollywood Bowl last night. She wore plaid as usual and a knuckle ring from her Elizabeth and James line. To help promote The Wackness UK release this weekend, Mk gave an interview where she talked a little about her personal life and dream afternoon. Here's more: On whether people confuse her and Ashley: "Not as much, no. But sometimes if I'm out I'll say I'm Ashley or if I'm making reservations for restaurants instead of saying my name I'll use my sister's! Actually most of the time." On what she wishes she could do: "I would love to be able to swim in the ocean in Malibu. But that is asking for a bikini shot. That's inviting something that I don't want to happen. I don't need
(more)
PopSugar
What I Learned: Arthouse Summer Wrap-up
21 August 2008 3:02 PM, PDT | From Cinematical.com | See recent Cinematical news
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Thrillers, Fandom, Family Films, Cinematical Indie
With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Elisabeth Rappe, geeks are not the only ones who learned important lessons from watching movies this summer. Herewith is my personal, arthouse summer school summary.
Werner Herzog cast a disapproving eye on the ugliness he discovered at Antarctica's McMurdo Station ("they even have a yoga studio and an Atm!") and was skeptical about the sanity of some of the real-life characters he met, which is partly why Encounters at the End of the World was so entrancing. What I learned: Evidence for gay penguins is skimpy, but they have been known to have threesomes.
The Wackness (pictured) didn't became the breakout hit that some had hoped for, but it did showcase the talents of rising star Olivia Thirlby and director Jonathan Levine. What I learned: Never kiss Ben Kingsley in a telephone booth.
(more)
Peter Martin
Red Band Trailer - Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz Heat Up 'Elegy'
20 August 2008 2:29 PM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news
In general, I don't think Philip Roth novels transfer very well to the screen. Certainly, anyone who sat through Portnoy's Complaint had complaints of his or her own, and most recently, The Human Stain was spun from a Roth book, and that didn't end very well, either.
And while it's a risky proposition to put too much weight into a trailer, Elegy looks like an entirely different situation. It's based on the novel The Dying Animal, and even though Ben Kingsley has kind of been all over the road in the past few years (he's popped up in everything from Sexy Beast and The Wackness to Suspect Zero and The Love Guru), it appears that he's giving the kind of thoughtful, intelligent, weathered performances he can be so good at.
Penelope Cruz also looks up to snuff here, and she's usually not very good when she has to speak English.
(more)
Colin Boyd
Tiff announces more titles for Vanguard, Visions and Discovery
14 August 2008 3:56 PM, PDT | From QuietEarth.us | See recent QuietEarth news
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced a whole load of films, including many world premiers, to be added as part of their lineups. Some of the more interesting looking ones are Lance Daly's Kisses about two Irish kids who run away from home and deal with the dark underside of Dublin. Another film I'm definitely interested in is Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Uncertainty which stars one of my personal favorites, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's about a couple in love who find out she's pregnant and they flip a coin from where it apparently follows both possible storylines, but with the same disastrous consequences. Also screening will be Fabrice du Welz's Vinyan (trailer here) which is about a couple who lost their son in a Tsunami and won't give up looking for him. In the Discovery program, the stop-motion animation $9.99 which is about a man seeking the meaning to life.
(more)Permalink | Report a problem
Ben Kingsley
6 August 2008 9:03 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news
Though he had performed onstage and on British television for more than 15 years, Ben Kingsley was a relative unknown when he won the leading role in Richard Attenborough's 1982 epic Gandhi, which swept the Oscars. Kingsley's Best Actor award didn't pay initial dividends, perhaps because he was identified too closely with the part, but when he earned a second Oscar nomination in 1991 for his role in Bugsy, his versatility was undeniable. Since then, he's offered up Oscar-nominated turns in Sexy Beast and House Of Sand And Fog, and memorable roles in Searching For Bobby Fischer, Dave, Death And The Maiden, and Schindler's List. He's been particularly prolific this summer, appearing in The Wackness; The Love Guru; War, Inc.; and Transsiberian. In the new film Elegy, based on Philip Roth's novel The Dying Animal, Kingsley stars as David Kepesh, an aging college professor and notorious lothario who launches a...
Scott Tobias
Movie Review - 'The Wackness'
17 July 2008 11:59 PM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news
Starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, and Olivia Thirlby
Directed by Jonathan Levine
Rated R
Sometimes it's the strangest relationships that can be the most rewarding. Felix and Oscar, Harold and Maude, Martin and Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, Gnarls Barkley. The Wackness provides us the most dysfunctional friendship of 2008, but it's one the characters and the audience are both the better for exploring.
Recent high school graduate Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) attends therapy sessions with Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley). At the end of each session, Luke pays his doctor with dime bags of pot. It's a win-win situation; Luke gets the help he seeks and gains a customer, and Dr. Squires gets the high he wants and, for 45 minutes, a friend he needs.
Squires lives a pretty vacant life. He's in a loveless marriage (to Famke Janssen) and he doesn't get along very well with his step-daughter Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby from Juno). Luke,
(more)
Colin Boyd
Movie Review: The Wackness
12 July 2008 7:14 AM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news
Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck wheel around the marijuana cart posing as a snow cone cart
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Fueled by not much more than online fanboy joy over a film they mildly connect with, The Wackness is impressive only as a piece of teenage "where do I fit in the world?" questioning, but outside of that it isn't all that interesting. This film just tends to sit there and go through the motions as each and every turn in the plot is foreshadowed prior to anything ever taking place. None of it is a mystery as you follow the slovenly open-mouthed protagonist on his daily jaunts selling weed while the world he inhabits is crumbling all around him. Josh Peck isn't a newcomer to films although it may seem that way considering he has never broken out and astounded audiences. Starring as Luke Shapiro, he has just graduated
(more)
Brad Brevet
Movie Reviews: The Wackness
4 July 2008 10:35 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news
In addition to the slew of blockbusters that have taken over the multiplexes for the Independence Day holiday, the critically praised The Wackness, starring Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck, Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivia Thirlby is opening in limited release today (Friday) to largely enthusiastic reviews. Rafer Guzmán in the Newsday indicates the movie "is less a story than a series of moments -- some funny, some poignant, all memorable." Comments Claudia Puig in USA Today: "The writing and filmmaking style are often poetic, and the dialogue, steeped in '90s phrases, sounds believable. ... The Wackness is both darkly funny and life-affirming, in an offbeat and offhanded way." Some critics suggest, however, that the movie was contrived primarily for the film-festival crowd and like many festival competitors is overloaded with preadult angst. Although set in New York in 1994, Jan Stuart notes in the Los Angeles Times, the movie "is ultimately less evocative of pre-Sept. 11 Manhattan than it is of post-Sept. 11 Park City, Utah, where the film had its Sundance debut." And Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News concludes that the film is ultimately a disappointment. The film, he writes, "occasionally stumbles into charm but more often is just wayward and hazy."
The Wackness
3 July 2008 10:04 AM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news
It seems odd to wax nostalgic about the year 1994, not just because so little time has passed between then and now, but because the particulars of the period—the music, the fashions, the language, the politics—are so hazy and elusive. If nothing else, Jonathan Levine's coming-of-age film The Wackness evokes the summer of '94 with impressive particularity; it's one thing to get the look and sound of the time right, but Levine also captures the atmosphere of fear and loathing in Rudy Giuliani's New York, where the task of "cleaning up" the city swept too much under the rug. With such a rich backdrop in place, it's a shame that Levine brings so little of interest to the fore—instead, he centers on a mopey teenage drug pusher whose mind seems perpetually clouded in pot smoke. He's a bore, and the movie bores along with him. In the summer.
(more)
Scott Tobias
Review: "The Wackness"
3 July 2008 9:07 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news
By Matt Singer
Many movies wax nostalgic for the good old days; "The Wackness" is the only movie I can think of that's nostalgic for a time occupied by people who are themselves nostalgic about their own good old days. Though writer/director Jonathan Levine's wistful coming-of-age film wants us to miss New York City as we knew it in 1994, the characters are all pissed off: their marriages are falling apart or their high school careers (and, thus, their lives) are coming to an end, and the new mayor is cracking down on drug use.
I guess the grass . the grass, man . is always greener. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) is an enterprising high school senior who makes up for his parents' employment fuckups by dealing pot around his Upper East Side neighborhood. His aesthetic, much like the movie itself, is pointedly old school: cassettes instead of CDs, Nintendo instead of Sega Genesis.
(more)
Matt Singer
Kingsley's Wackness Wins Film Festival Prize
2 July 2008 6:36 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news
Sir Ben Kingsley's new movie The Wackness has claimed the top audience award at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
The coming-of-age drama previously picked up the Best Drama honour at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah at the beginning of 2008.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a movie about a Canadian metal band's bid for stardom, won the Los Angeles Film Festival's audience documentary prize.
10 Movies, 10 Years: NYC in the ’90s
2 July 2008 10:45 AM, PDT | From Spout.com | See recent Spout news
Jonathan Levine's crowd-pleasing (in terms of audience awards at festivals, not in terms of uplifting Hollywood endings) film The Wackness opens in limited release tomorrow. In case you haven't noticed from the ads and the soundtrack, it takes place in the New York City of 1994, a special time for the place because Rudy Giuliani had just become mayor and was beginning to clean up the city, Goldie Wilson-stylee (OK, not really Goldie Wilson-stylee, but who do ...
Christopher Campbell
'Wackness' director lines up new projects
1 July 2008 10:32 PM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news
Jonathan Levine will follow up his Los Angeles Film Festival success with indie drama The Wackness by taking on a romantic thriller and a spy film, says The Hollywood Reporter. Levine will write and direct love story Positive, set in Martha's Vineyard, for Occupant Films. He has also agreed to pen Echelon Vendetta, a spy thriller based on David Stone's novel, for (more)
By Simon Reynolds
When Nostalgia Goes Too Far
1 July 2008 10:51 AM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news
What with the 1994 period piece The Wackness set to open this weekend, Mary-Kate Olsen's penchant for hosting well-documented flannel parties, and the whiff of My So-Called Life and Eagle Eye Cherry in the air, it should be pretty obvious to all pop culture consumers that we are on the crest of a massive wave of 90s nostalgia. It's been happening for a while, actually. VH1 has already moved on to the aughts—a clear indication that the 90s revival trend is about to trickle down to suburbia, which means that 90s Dance Party will soon replace 80s Nite as the new "fun" weekly event at Tampa's finest strip mall nightclub, and Career Opportunities and Clueless will soon usurp Pretty In Pink as the hilariously dated slumber party movie of choice for teenagers all around the country. All of which is fine. There's nothing...
Permalink | Report a problem
Josh Peck and Jonathan Levine on "The Wackness"
1 July 2008 8:33 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news
By Stephen Saito
Jonathan Levine calls "The Wackness" a "second first film." In a way, he's speaking for his whole cast. While Levine is making his debut as a writer after helming the much buzzed-about (but still unreleased) teen horror comedy hybrid, "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane," he hired an eclectic cast for his latest film that includes Nickelodeon staple Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby ("Juno"), Method Man, Famke Janssen, Sir Ben Kingsley, and in case you hadn't heard, Mary-Kate Olsen. It's an unusual ensemble for an unusual coming-of-age story of a teen (Peck) who forms an unlikely friendship with a psychologist (Kingsley) by trading marijuana for therapy in 1994 New York. It's clearly a personal story for Levine, but it's not an autobiographical one, though both he and Peck both sweated out sticky summers in Manhattan, listening to Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" a generation apart. Now, the two have
(more)
Stephen Saito
IFC News Podcast #83: The Wide World of Drug Movies
1 July 2008 7:37 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news
By Matt Singer and Alison Willmore
In this week's "The Wackness," one-time Nickelodeon star Josh Peck plays a teenager who spends the summer of 1994 dealing pot out of an ice cream cart and consuming plenty of his own product. In honor of the film, and in particular of Ben Kingsley's admirably fried performance as a shrink who accepts weed in lieu of cash for sessions, we're spending this IFC News podcast in the world of drug movies, from stoner comedies like "Smiley Face" to meth dramas like "Spun."
Download now (MP3: 35:06 minutes, 32.1 Mb) Podcast feeds: [Xml] [iTunes]
[Photo: "The Wackness," Sony Pictures Classics, 2008]
Alison Willmore
2008 Los Angeles Film Festival Awards
30 June 2008 12:05 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news
Jonathan Levine’s indie comedy “The Wackness” picked up the audience award for best narrative feature Sunday at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival. The film stars Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen and Olivia Thirlby, and focuses on a young drug dealer who falls for his psychiatrist’s daughter.
The audience award for best international feature went to James Marsh’s “Man on Wire,” a British documentary about tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring but often illegal stunts.
But “Man on Wire” failed to collect the audience award for best documentary feature, which went to Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” a film about a Canadian rock band that never made the big time.
The festival also presented two awards sponsored by Target. Darius Marder’s “Loot” took home the best documentary award, while Sean Baker’s “Prince of Broadway” won best narrative feature.
Other winners included Jennifer Lawrence
(more)
Franck Tabouring
Opening This Week
30 June 2008 7:46 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news
By Neil Pedley
This 4th of July week finds Will Smith's belligerent man of steel sending the rest of the summer tentpole movies running scared, leaving only the indies to offer any alternative.
"Brutal Massacre"
Does the horror genre need its own "This Is Spinal Tap"? Ready or not, here comes "Brutal Massacre," a mockumentary comedy about a once-successful horror director (played by "An American Werewolf in London"'s David Naughton) attempting to make his big comeback film against increasingly insurmountable odds. Be on the lookout for appearances by Gunnar Hansen ("The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"'s Leatherface), Ellen Sandweiss ("The Evil Dead") and other horror movie stalwarts.
Opens in limited release.
Terry Kinney made a name for himself as Tim McManus, the idealistic but world-weary warden of Emerald City in the hard-hitting prison drama "Oz." "Diminished Capacity," his debut as a director, also finds Matthew Broderick
(more)
Neil Pedley
Kingsley Taught Pot Smoking For Movie
30 June 2008 4:51 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news
Veteran actor Sir Ben Kingsley had to be shown how to smoke pot for his role in forthcoming film The Wackness.
The Oscar-winner stars as a marijuana-addicted therapist in the movie - and had to be given instruction on how to make his smoking look realistic.
The film's director Jonathan Levine tells the New York Daily News, "I had to teach him how to properly hit a bong.
"It's kind of like herbal tobacco. It doesn't taste great or smell great, either. I felt bad for everyone's lungs."
1-20 of 31 articles from 2008 « Prev | Next »
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the
above news articles. News articles are published for the entertainment of our
users only. The news items do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we
guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the
site responsible for the article in question to report any concerns you may
have.
Home
| Search
| Now Playing
| News
| My Movies
| Games
| Boards
| Help
| US Movie Showtimes
| Top 250
| Register
| Recommendations
| Widgets
Box Office
| Index
| Trailers
| Jobs
|
IMDbPro.com - Free Trial
| IMDb Resume
Copyright © 1990-2008
IMDb.com, Inc.
Terms and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.
An 
company.
Advertise on IMDb.
License our content.