Director: Jonathan Levine, 15, 99min

Stars: Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Ben Kingsley

On general release

Welcome back to the 1990s. Here, filtered through a lens of Sundance-skewed quirkiness and a baked, stoner nostalgia, it is an era that, despite its liberal sprinkling of hip-hop in-crowd vernacular, seems almost naive – a simpler, more innocent time. The writer and director Levine’s coming-of-age story is set on the streets of downtown Manhattan during the summer of 1994. It plays out to an old-skool wet dream of a soundtrack that will reawaken the inner B-boy in anyone who grew up during the decade.

Central to the story is Luke (Peck), a slightly chubby loner marooned in the hinterland between the cool kids and the outcasts. He accepts his outsider status with a slump-shouldered resignation; his day job as the purveyor of high-strength weed from a modified ice-cream cart allows him a glimpse into the social circle otherwise barred to him. More than anything, Luke longs to get with Stephanie (Thirlby), the dopest girl in his year at school.

But for the moment he has to settle for therapy sessions with her dad, Dr Squires (Kingsley), which Luke pays for with little bags of his special herb. But as the summer rolls out, Luke finds that not only does Stephanie notice him but that his friendship with the increasingly eccentric doctor deepens.

The plotting is a little baggy; sometimes as aimless as Luke’s meandering sneaker-scuffed path through the summer streets. But Levine’s eye for period detail is sharp and his talent for dialogue hits the right balance between authenticity and affectionate mockery (“I got big love for you shorty,” says the hopelessly out of his depth Luke).

Slack-jawed and a little shapeless, Luke is initially not the most engaging character, but the anguish of his first heartbreak sharpens him and forms him into the beginnings of a well-rounded adult. Charismatic support comes from Mary-Kate Olson, in a memorable cameo, and Thirlby, whose turn as the cool but shallow Stephanie confirms her as a name to watch.

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