Arts & Entertainment
Summer In The City
The Wackness, set in 1994 NYC, tells an edgy, bittersweet and funny coming-of-age story.
The Wackness' Shapiro family: Talia Balsam as Mrs. Shapiro, Josh Peck as Luke
Shapiro and David Wohl as Mr. Shapiro.
Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News
osh Peck got his show-biz start
doing stand-up comedy when he
was 8, then segued into acting
in his early teens. Now 21, his career is
in high gear, and his pesky relatives have
stopped worrying.
"A lot of family members, it was a very
major thing on their mind what my future
was going to be he recalls. "Especially if
you pick something outside of the doctor-
lawyer type of profession, something that's
not as quote-unquote steady as some
other professions might be, that elicits
some unrest in more of the traditional
thinkers, especially in my family"
Peck continues, "I was asked a lot, my
mom was asked, 'When's Josh going to go
to college? I'm so happy that this is work-
ing out, but it can't be a reality, can it?'
That sort of transcended to a bit of Luke
[Shapiro], that he was tired of hearing
everyone else's opinion and what every-
one else had to say about his life, and he
wanted to figure it out for himself!'
Luke is the frustrated, fresh-out-of-
high-school graduate at the center of The
Wackness, a charming and wistful corn-
j
When psychiatrist Dr. Jeffery Squires (Ben Kingsley) proposes Luke (Josh Peck)
trade him weed for therapy sessions, the two begin to explore both New York City
and their own depression.
ing-of-age comedy set in
but it's definitely something
Manhattan in the sum-
that my family has."
mer of 1994. His sum-
"Luke's parents;' Peck
mer job is selling pot; his
chips in, "have this brilliant
most dependable cus-
passive way of getting their
tomer is his depressed
emotion across, planting
therapist, played by Sir
the seed and then waiting
Ben Kingsley.
for it to just grow and man-
The Wackness, winner
ifest itself into your psyche
of the Audience Award at
until you're haunted by it;
the 2008 Sundance Film
and you can't rid yourself of
Festival, is scheduled to
this weight."
open Friday, July 25, at
Levine and Peck crack up.
the Main Art Theatre in
"See says Levine, "that's
Royal Oak.
the other thing you don't
Peck, who gained fame Director/writer Jonathan
want to get into it because
as part of Nickelodeon's
then we might realize how
Levine: "I feel like we're
hit Drake and Josh show, both part of this generation much our Jewish upbring-
and Jonathan Levine, the of people who grow up
ings have really trauma-
slightly older New Yorker and Judaism becomes
tized us!'
who wrote and directed
Seriously though, one
more about a cultural
the semi-autobiographi- identification than a
curious thing about The
cal film, had a hoot doing religious identification."
Wackness from a Jewish
a Jewish-oriented inter-
perspective is that his par-
view.
ents, atypically, hardly ever
"Certainly the way [Luke's] family
press Luke on his plans.
interacts, they're very emotive, they're
"We actually cut [out] a scene where
very emotional and they feel things very
they do talk about his future Levine
deeply:' Levine says. "I don't know if that's
replies. "It felt kind of an appendage in a
a specifically Jewish characteristic or not,
way because as much as that is something
that would be talked about, a lot of what's
going on with this family is so in the
moment that there [isn't] really much time
to consider the future. It's in the midst of
a crisis."
The interview began with Peck playfully
yet proudly declaring he can still recite his
bar mitzvah parsha. Not bad, considering
his self-described "ultra-Reform" rite of
passage — both ceremony and reception
— took place at an Italian restaurant in
midtown Manhattan.
Levine observes, "I feel like we're both
part of this generation of people who
grow up and Judaism becomes more
about a cultural identification than a
religious identification, for better or
worse."
Peck nods his head. "You inherently feel
Jewish no matter what. Where I draw my
spirituality from is still being decided. But
culturally I feel it's very much a part of my
core." ❑
The Wackness is scheduled to open
Friday, July 25, at the Main Art
Theatre in Royal Oak. (248) 263-2111.
July 24 • 2008
B5