I came into this movie with the hopes that I would see something uplifting and inspiring that would celebrate diversity, hip hop, and all things 90's. Instead, I left halfway through the film, frustrated by its white-male-centered focus and trite attempt at being culturally relevant by dropping OJ newspaper covers, mentioning Kurt Cobain's suicide, and played-out "slang" that wasn't even used correctly.
This movie is a typical "indie" film that panders to upper-class older white audiences and that tries to pretend to be hip and nostalgic. This movie could've taken acting lessons from "Half Baked"--in fact, it was like a bad knockoff of "Half Baked" that included the weed but didn't include the positivity, humor, diversity, and energy that the 90's really had.
If you're saying to yourself, this movie wasn't about Hip-Hop, ask yourself why the marketing relies so heavily on it. Why is it called THE WACKNESS? Why does it push the soundtrack as a selling factor? Why are the transitions so centered on graffiti and the music? Why was the only African-American cameo Method Man (who was the head drug supplier)? It's a Hip-Hop movie stripped of everything a Hip-Hop movie should have: the dj, the b-boy, the MC, and the graffiti. Instead, THE WACKNESS becomes the typical 2000's indie film that wallows in angst, irony, and sublime disattachment to actual emotion.
p.s. there is something so wrong about Mary Kate "Passport to Paris" Olsen as a hippie/party girl. The WTF factor is off the charts. She was 8 in 1994, people.
This movie is a typical "indie" film that panders to upper-class older white audiences and that tries to pretend to be hip and nostalgic. This movie could've taken acting lessons from "Half Baked"--in fact, it was like a bad knockoff of "Half Baked" that included the weed but didn't include the positivity, humor, diversity, and energy that the 90's really had.
If you're saying to yourself, this movie wasn't about Hip-Hop, ask yourself why the marketing relies so heavily on it. Why is it called THE WACKNESS? Why does it push the soundtrack as a selling factor? Why are the transitions so centered on graffiti and the music? Why was the only African-American cameo Method Man (who was the head drug supplier)? It's a Hip-Hop movie stripped of everything a Hip-Hop movie should have: the dj, the b-boy, the MC, and the graffiti. Instead, THE WACKNESS becomes the typical 2000's indie film that wallows in angst, irony, and sublime disattachment to actual emotion.
p.s. there is something so wrong about Mary Kate "Passport to Paris" Olsen as a hippie/party girl. The WTF factor is off the charts. She was 8 in 1994, people.
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