It would be easy to write off The Wackness as a slacker comedy. Sure, it’s a coming-of-age story about a young dope dealer, Luke Shapiro, set in Giuliani-era New York City. But Luke, played by Josh Peck, is no slacker—and The Wackness goes deeper than most comedies.

Luke is the most popular of the unpopular kids in his high school graduating class. He’s spending his summer pushing an ice-cream cart filled with weed around the streets of NYC, to the hip hop sounds of Notorious B.I.G. and A Tribe Called Quest. Luke is dealing to get money for college, while his parents’ marriage and finances melt down in the summer heat.

Luke is also seeing a therapist—the depressed Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley). And he’s falling for Dr. Squires’ stepdaughter, the way-out-of-his league Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby).

What follows has something to say about male friendship and male-female relationships. Men are confused romantics. Women are alienated realists. It also has something to say about class and social standing, as Luke and his family try to hang on to their New York apartment.

Is this sounding heavy? It’s not. The Wackness is a tightly scripted comedy. The performances are outstanding—and the soundtrack is absolutely killer. Sure it’s a shaggy-dog story set in the summertime. But The Wackness is also a love letter to a more innocent time in New York City. As Stephanie would say, “That’s dope.”

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