The Wackness movie review & film summary (2008)
Peck's performance, for that matter, could have been inspired by Ellen Page's work in "Juno," assuming he saw the film once and wasn't paying attention. He is cool beyond cool, except when his heart is broken, which happens after he makes the mistake of telling Stephanie he loves her. This is, like, so not cool. Meanwhile, Squires' own marriage with Kristin (Famke Janssen) is on the rocks, although both are so spaced out that they don't much care. That leaves space in the story for one meaningful relationship, which is between Luke and Squires.
The Luke character we've seen before, usually not played this well. The psychiatrist is more original. Kingsley, at first unrecognizable with lanky locks and an outdated goatee, is a seriously addicted man, which he must know better than anybody. There's no evidence he has any clients other than Luke, and much of the time he's asking Luke for help. His belief system seems founded on the Beat Generation, and he's acting out his own desires through the younger man. He wants -- a laundry list. He wants to be younger, more potent, happily married. He wants to score with hippie chicks (one is played in the movie by Mary-Kate Olsen, who is a superb example of what he has in mind as a hippie chick). He wants to be loved. He wants to love. Everything going wrong in Luke's life right now has been going wrong in the doctor's life for 40 years.
It's impossible to not pity this man and carry a reluctant affection for him. He's so screwed up. As a smart, addicted, self-analyzing, secular Jewish intellectual, he could be born of Philip Roth's nightmares. Luke, however, appears to be a drug-abusing slacker, but is, in fact, an ambitious drug-abusing slacker, who thinks he might study psychiatry. He's in inner turmoil because of problems at home, where the best-laid plans of his father have run ashore, and the family is being evicted. One motive for Luke's drug-selling spree is to bail out his dad, although it appears he would have to turn over the national product of Colombia to succeed.
