The Wackness is a coming-of-age story that's had a lot of attention prior to opening. The movie has a smart script and was a big hit January at the Sundance indie festival, where it won the Audience Award.

And it features a make-out scene between Ben Kingsley and Mary-Kate Olsen, so it's been on everyone's radar for months. (Ewwww! on the latter point, but that's just one girl's opinion.)

The Wackness is set in 1994 in New York and stars Josh Peck as Luke, a high school senior enjoying his last summer at home before college. Luke's summer job (and winter job, too, for that matter) is selling marijuana to the locals. He isn't cool at school but he's well known for the weed thing, and in summer he sells from a little ice-cream wagon. Very enterprising. Very low-key. Luke's parents seem remote and removed, and his father has created money problems for the family.

One of Luke's customers is Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), with whom he works on a barter system. Luke trades dope for psychiatric sessions with the pothead doctor; it's an interesting relationship, particularly as Luke seems to have no real friends.

Dr. Squires offers Luke a lot of advice, most of it idiotic, but he does include the strong suggestion that sex could be the answer to some of Luke's problems. There's a girl Luke really likes from school named Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), but she already has a boyfriend. She's also Dr. Squires' stepdaughter.

The movie wanders in and out of the lives of these characters, introducing Famke Janssen, for example, as Dr. Squires' much-younger wife, and Jane Adams as one of Luke's weed customers. Then there's Method Man as his supplier and Aaron Yoo as Stephanie's boyfriend. The focus of the story, however, is on Luke and Stephanie, a chapter that begins when her boyfriend leaves town for the summer. They spend a lot of time together, hanging out.

Then the boyfriend comes back.

The Wackness is a good watch for the whole summer-love, growing-up theme, and Peck is excellent (and understated) in the role of Luke. And, while the story sometimes seems to be working much too hard on the quirky quotient, it does have a mostly believable and engaging emotional life. You never doubt Luke's vulnerability.

In the end, the most interesting character might be the city of New York, as it was in all its pre-sanitized, pre-9/11, pre-cellphone glory. Mr. Giuliani was just starting his campaign to rid the city of graffiti, street people and fun; this is New York when it still had World Trade towers and the inhabitants were not yet exclusively the super-rich. Imagine that.

The mid-'90s setting also means vintage hip-hop on the soundtrack, which is interesting, and vintage street talk and slang, which just sound awkward. For instance, Stephanie criticizes Luke's negative view of life by reminding him that he always sees the wackness -- the down side -- while she tends to see the upside, the dopeness.

Many people who were around in 1994 hear that kind of talk and ask, "Wha?"

(This film is rated 14-A)

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