FILM REVIEW: Thumbsucker

[johnnycakes]

I can’t believe this movie has not been discussed yet…but it hasn’t. So here’s my review.




Title: Thumbsucker

Cast: Lout Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vince Vaugh, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt, Kelli Garner

Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) is a middle-class 17 year old high school senior. He gets middling grades and his only extra-curricular activity is the debate team, which he obviously joined so he could spend time with the object of his lust, Rebecca (Kelli Garner).
His dad, Mike (Vincent D’Onofrio), a former jock and current sporting goods store manager, doesn’t understand him.
His mom, Audrey (Tilda Swinton), a nurse, is lost in a fantasy of winning a date with an actor (Benjamin Bratt) from a prime-time cop drama.
His little brother feels self-imposed pressure to be extra-normal since he perceives that his parents perceive Justin as not normal.

Justin still sucks this thumb. It is his comfort and his bane and an extreme annoyance to his father. Justin finally decides he’s had enough and is going to stop. He gets unsought advice from his new-age influenced dentist Perry (Keanu Reeves), before going to his doctor. He is diagnosed with ADD and starts taking Ritalin. Justin is changes in every facet. He transforms from a timid, disheveled, mediocre student to a confident, well groomed debating machine. This, of course, pleases his debate team coach (Vince Vaughn).


The acting of all the adult roles in this movie is flawless. Keanu Reeves is great (or as great as Keanu Reeves can be). Vince Vaughn plays his role mild mannered, which is something we haven’t seen from Vince in a while. Benjamin Bratt is hilarious in his cameo. Tilda Swinton and Vincent D’Onofrio are real (I can’t think of a better word, or bigger compliment) as Justin’s genuinely loving parents who are just trying to understand their son. I especially like how Mike (D’Onofrio) was written as a father who has grown distant. I think my favorite moment in the movie occurs when Justin discusses moving away for college and Mike replies genuinely with “But I was just starting to get used to you.”

Mike Mills created and executed this script (based on the novel by Walter Kirn) masterfully in his first feature film. The movie is a coming-of-age tale, but does not once descend into melodrama, nor does it unintentionally become a parody of real life as coming-of-age tales often do.

I highly recommend this to...everyone.

RIYL: Rushmore, Junebug, I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Huckabees

Rating: 4.8 (out of 5)