In Manhattan during the summer of 1994, a lonely, horny teenage boy (TV actor Josh Peck) gets sent to a psychologist (Ben Kingsley) and finds a buddy the shrink smokes blunts with him, accompanies him to bars, listens to the kids hip-hop music, and has a sympathetic, beautiful daughter (Olivia Thirlby). In other words, the therapy works. Writer-director Jonathan Levines coming-of-ager is every bit as fantastic as
Alice in Wonderland but we swallow it happily, helped along by Levines glib dialogue (Im mad depressed, yo) and the promise of young love. Its an exercise in style and wit, with extra bonus points for the dream combo of Kingsley and Thirlby (95 min.).
By
Kelly Vance