The Wackness

The Wackness is a 2008 American coming-of-agecomedy-drama film written and directed by Jonathan Levine. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of Levine's life growing up in New York City in the 1990s. It stars Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Method Man. It revolves around a troubled teenage drug dealer who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2008, where it won the Audience Award: Dramatic. It was theatrically released in the United States on August 1, 2008, by Sony Pictures Classics. It received positive reviews from critics, but was a box-office bomb, grossing $3.3 million worldwide against a $6 million budget. Levine was nominated for Best First Screenplay at the 24th Independent Spirit Awards.