Ah, let’s see. Teen Spirit was 3-years-old, we’d just moved to Third Street from Fifth Street in Park Slope, I was working as a video producer in Manhattan. Well, if you feel nostalgic for that summer, see the Wackness at BAM Rose Cinema. It looks like fun. Olivia Thirlby who I love from Juno is in it. And of course, Ben Kingsely. Here’s the blurbage. I’ve even included the You Tube trailer. Is that weird?

Brooklyn Exclusive
(R) 100min
2:10, 4:40, 7:15, 9:40pm

Directed by Jonathan Levine
With Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby

The Wackness is a peculiar and beguiling surprise, the cinematic version of one of those endless summer afternoons that line the median between adolescence and adulthood. It’s also a work of expertly calibrated performances.” —New York Sun

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. The newly inaugurated mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, is only beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radio, graffiti, and public drunkenness.

Two people, however, are missing out on the excitement: Luke (Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues with his parents, and a colossal lack of confidence with girls. He trades weed for sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), whose much-younger wife (Famke Janssen) is slipping away from him.

The intergenerational duo set off on a crawl that takes them all over New York, where they encounter several of Luke’s “business associates,” including a Phish-following dreadlocked pixie (Mary Kate Olsen), a New Wave, keyboard-playing one-hit-wonder (Jane Adams), and Luke’s supplier (Method Man). Luke has long had an aching crush on Dr. Squires’ way-out-of-his league stepdaughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby from Juno), and is stunned at his good luck when she returns his affections.

Propelled by an exuberant hip hop score, The Wackness captures the spell of 1994—a time of pagers, not cell phones; a time when Tupac and Biggie were alive but Kurt Cobain had just died. Funny and moving, The Wackness is an offbeat tale of two lost souls stumbling towards maturity.

Synopsis excerpted from the film’s official website, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.