The Wackness

Writer-director Jonathan Levine’s mix tape of clichés takes cuts from a dozen or more coming-of-age melodramas and sets them to the backbeat of 1994 New York City. The movie begins by ballyhooing its “edge”: The Sony Classics logo gets tagged over. After teenage hip-hop head Luke (Josh Peck) is introduced stonewalling his psychiatrist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), the patient pays off his shrink in … kind bud! Ohhhhhhhh, snaps (insert DJ scratching noise) — this ain’t ya parents’ Ordinary People, son! Peck’s authentic performance keeps all of this just shy of execrable.