THE SUMMER OF ’94 WILL BE ONE TO REMEMBER IN THIS RITES OF PASSAGE STORY, WHOSE SKEWED CHARACTERS AND EVIDENT SINCERITY WON IT MUCH ACCLAIM AT THAT CRUCIBLE OF INDIE COOL, THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.
At school in New York’s upper East Side, Luke (Josh Peck) was a geeky wannabe tolerated by hipper classmates because he sold them dope. Now, in the formative window between high school graduation and heading off to college, he wonders if he’ll ever find acceptance, but since he supplies weed to frazzled shrink Ben Kingsley, he gets free counselling as part of an exchange deal. Since the psychiatrist is himself going through the terminal phase of his marriage (to an effectively pensive Famke Janssen) and looking to recapture some lost youth, the two become unexpected buddies—which makes life rather trickier when Luke starts dating the latter’s free-spirited hippie-chick daughter (Olivia thirlby).
In the time-capsule dialogue which gives the film its title, she berates him for being a glass-half-empty kind of guy: ‘Ilook at the dopeness. You look at the wackness’. It’s a turn of phrase which highlights the film’s suggestion of the revivifying influence of then-breaking hip-hop culture on white youth. Graffiti-style titles notwithstanding, Jonathan Levine’s movie actually plays against our expectations of quirky teen frolics to offer a measured, almost melancholy engagement with issues of self-worth. Kingsley’s shamelessly zingy performance certainly adds a dash of vinegar, but the film’s real accomplishment is best exemplified by a tender, utterly authentic romantic interlude on sunny Fire Island, a definite indication that here’s a filmmaker to watch.—Trevor Johnston.