By Bob Polunsky
Guest Columnist

Director Jonathan Levine went back in time to film “Wackiness,” a wacky title for story set in the mid-1990s.

“Cell phones didn’t exist then and nostalgia for the 1980s was strong while expectations for the 21st century were not strong in 1994,” Levine said in a telephone interview.

“Actually, life in 1994 may have been similar to life in the 21st century, but it was virtually unexplored by young people like Luke and Stephanie.”

Luke and Stephanie are the main characters in “Wackiness.” Levine obviously set it in those years because he lived them and was familiar with them.

“Life then was probably similar to life today, but it was much more personal for me. I wanted the nostalgia to remind me how I felt when falling in love, and I learned it from Olivia’s performance of Stephanie in our movie.”

He was referring to Olivia Thirlby, the actress who plays Ben Kingsley’s stepdaughter in the film. Kingsley stars as a psychiatrist addicted to drugs. He makes a pact with Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) to trade psychiatric sessions for drugs, not realizing at the time that Luke has fallen hard for Stephanie. Luke didn’t know that she uses people to build up her own ego. When he finds out, his reaction tells us he’s learned something from the experience and is finally beginning to grow up.

“Casting Sir Ben Kingsley gives our movie more class. It’s a new and different kind of role for him, and, because of his presence, he motivated the other players to do their best.”

“Wackiness” has some blatant sex scenes, but Levine didn’t have any problems filming them since the movie was independently financed, thereby giving the filmmakers license to do pretty much what they wanted. Their intent was to be as honest and forthcoming about youthful attitudes as possible.

“I wanted teenagers and young adults to identify with the emotions of the characters,” Levine explained. “It wasn’t that long ago that I was one of those characters, and I remembered how I felt at the time. Josh Peck was able to pick up on those same feelings.”

Levine was especially complimentary about Peck’s performance, repeatedly saying that he was able to bring out the humor of the character.

“He can be both funny and serious and make both attitudes believable. He has a sense of humor that
reminds me of many actors during their formative years,” Levine said.

I agreed and went so far as to say that Josh Peck looks and acts like a young Jimmy Stewart. If some of Stewart’s early films (“Destry Rides Again” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” come to mind) are ever remade, Peck would be a likely candidate to star in them.

Peck and Thirlby both seemed at ease with their characters, and both performances were tempered by Ben Kingsley’s performance as an older man who hasn’t outgrown his bad habits. As Levine indicated, his character of the psychiatrist put the younger characters – and the overall film – in perspective.