That Shit's Wack

Who didn't love 1994? Come on, it's the year that brought us Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and The Shawshank Redemption. Don't forget it's when we all became Friends, revisited Woodstock, watched intently as OJ got away with murder, and cried into our flannels over the loss of Kurt Cobain.

It is also the year the one of my favorite films of the year, The Wackness, is set in. You haven't heard of it? Unsurprising. It's an indie flick with lots of balls, plenty of old school humor, drug use and damn good music. Starring Ben Kingsley in one of the best rolls I've seen him in, it also features Josh Peck (apparently of Nickelodeon fame) and Olivia Thirlby (Juno's BFF). Mary-Kate Olsen puts in a pretty decent performance as a character I'd find hard to believe is very dissimilar from herself, aside from the dreadlocks. You'll also be pleasantly surprised to find Method Man as a Jamaican pot dealer.

The jist of the plot is that a high school graduate is struggling to make it through that last summer before college in NYC. To make ends meet he deals from an ice cream cart and trades pot for therapy. Naturally there's a romantic interest but the most important relationship is between Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck's characters. It's unpredictable, unconventional and funny as hell. One of my favorite lines from Kingsley, "Never trust someone who doesn't like dogs!"

I have to say though my favorite character in the movie: the music. How can you not love some early B.I.G.? Who doesn't crack a smile when they hear, "You, you got what I need, but you say I'm just a friend"? I certainly "don't see nothin wrong with a little bump and grind".

I'm not gonna lie though, I might have a slight bias towards this film. It made me incredibly nostalgic. It took me back to the days of my big brother Jake's discovery of rap music. He thought he was such a rebel and although I feigned disgust, I secretly loved all the cuss words. The summer of '94 was also the year my family road tripped to the east coast. Our trip included Philly, DC and NYC and I loved every minute of it. I remember the muddy kids coming from Woodstock and the energy of the city. It felt magical to me; like I was in a foreign country. I was an 11 year old girl from Wisconsin and the biggest city in America and it was the farthest I'd been from home, geographically and metaphorically.

So maybe my opinion is a bit skewed but how can you not love a film that reminds you of all of that?