I wanted so badly to like this...

I am a huge Josh Peck fan. I drove two hours to see The Wackness at the nearest film festival when it first came out, and I even sat through the ridiculous Spun for a few glimpses of him. It's such a struggle to see him in movies, or at least in interesting films with a decent role, meaning movies like Drillbit Taylor are excluded. He's such an incredible actor; I fell in love with him when Mean Creek came out. So needless to say I hunted this movie down with genuine excitement. He seemed to be an important character and the synopsis was very interesting.

However, I found it absolutely dreadful. The whole thing of it being the weird kids, feeling accepted and appreciated only by one teacher is cliche enough, but the way they played it up and over-acted it was so cheesey. I almost felt embarrassed to be watching it anytime the two close friends had dialogue.

I also feel its moral or underlying messages were inconsistent and contradictory. In the end it was best for some characters to not tell the truth to keep people happy like Josh Peck and Hilary Duff's characters, but not Steve Coogan's.

Really, I think I would have enjoyed it if it wasn't so over the top with the obsession and adoration of the teacher. They loved him, he was the only one who understood... I get it. I'm an intelligent viewer. You don't have to re-iterate it a million times and have the students act like the drug induced Manson followers. It just ruined it for me.

The story was decent, though, and the main characters were executed very well. I was completely surprised by Hilary Duff. This film actually made me a fan of her. And I loved her fur coat so much I went out and bought one just like it as soon as it was over.