The Wackness: Bittersweet romantic comedy with a lot of heart & a Great Ben Kingsley

* * * * (out of 5)

Even great actors have to remake themselves sometimes. Ben Kingsley won an Oscar early on in his movie career as Gandhi and seemed to take on Gandhi's mantle of seriousness as well. But great actors need not always play stern, upright, serious parts. Sometimes the best acting comes from playing a goofball or a carnival barker. When Kingsley was named a knight, there were rumors that he insisted that everyone call him Sir Ben after that. That kind of behavior pushes fans away.

Plus, the kinds of movies that Kingsley was known for started to become rare and his parts started drying up. So he took on a very funny role playing himself on The Sopranos and something must have clicked for him, because he's been in more comedies recently than any other time in his career. After playing a Polish hitman from Buffalo in You Kill Me, he's now playing a pot-smoking, ex-Deadhead Manhattan psychiatrist named Jeff Squires. I'm not sure it was intended, but I found the name Squires funny, since a squire is a knight in training.

Dr. Squires is addicted to pot and feeds his addiction by having free sessions with his teenage dealer Luke Shapiro. For a quarter gram Shapiro gets an hour with the doctor to apparently make up how he's feeling. Through his half-lies the truth does sneak out and Squires gives him some therapy that's half helpful and sometimes contradictory. Shapiro is not really "depressed, you're just sad," as Squires puts it and Luke has a reason to be. His parents are always fighting and acting like teens themselves while his father is doing something that is costing the family fortune and jeopardizing their home.

Since the story is sort of told from Luke's and Dr. Squire's point of view we're never quite sure what this father is up to, but it's not good. So Luke sells pot around Manhattan to "help his family", but really he's stashing the cash. And he is doing well. Using an old Italian ice cart to haul his pot around town, he's a favorite to a lot of depressed yuppies and younger types. As his new friend says, he is either "the most popular of the unpopular kids or the most unpopular of the popular kids." Whatever he is, he's alone and is focused on Squires' stepdaughter, Stephanie.

Stephanie is played by Olivia Thirlby (Juno's best friend Leah) and she's a real find. She's only been acting for two years, her first part was in 2006's United 93. I thought she was so cool as Leah, acting every bit like a fun teenage girl. Here she seduces Luke as much as the audience. Like Luke we never know where we stand with her. Is she a great girl, is she a bitch, is she some combination of the two? Her mother is played by Famke Janssen and she has that same quality, so the parts are written well.

I've never seen Josh Peck (Luke Shapiro) before, but he's quite good. He's apparently a child star having had his own TV show called Drake and Josh. It's a lot to ask a young actor to put a whole movie on his shoulders, but he carries the load and is almost as interesting as Kingsley. Well almost. Kingsley does bong hits in this movie, tags (graffitis) a store window, makes out with a girl old enough to be his granddaughter and speaks in Ebonics. Peck does all this too, but it never draws the laughs that Kingsley does.

For some reason it takes place in the summer of 1994, but for no other apparent reason than to take many jabs at Mayor Guiliani. Hey if Rudy made it harder for drug dealers to do business that's a good thing.

Anyway, after half a summer of watching things get blown up, it's nice to see a movie about friendships that pays attention to the little things.

The Freditor