Junkie Movie 2

Just saw The Wackness. Teen lovestory set in NY circa 1994. Cool that hip hop from the early 90's gets a renaissance, with acts like De la Soul, A Tribe Calle Quest and Biggie being heavily featured on the soundtrack. So why is this movie any good? Because it's unusual backdrop, because of its loser hero, because Ben Kingsley plays this cool f'd up shrink/junkie father figure. Because the photography is great. Because the dialogue is smart, most of the time. Because the soundtrack is great. Because everyone is on some drug the whole time. God, are New Yorkers like that? And people smoke so many cigarettes one starts suspecting the whole thing is sponsored by the tobacco industry, to make smoking cool again. (I get the same Marlboro-vibe from watching Mad Men) The love story is kind of lame, but it should work for a hip teen audience, as well as the film crowd. The movie is quite artsy, not a big mainstream thang.