Thumbsucker

Quiet, quirky gem. more

Benefits from a goofy yet incisive sense of humor and some extremely strong performances. more

A refreshingly low-key treatment of teenage trauma, with a lovely star performance and an unforgettable approach to orthodontics. more

One of the wonderful things about Thumbsucker is that, unlike so many movies in which a character changes in order to propel the plot forward, this one stops to follow up on the consequences of those changes. more

Supremely enjoyable. more

Mr. Pucci, emerging slowly from behind a stray lock of brown hair, plays Justin's ambiguous transformation with deft understatement. And Mike Mills, who wrote and directed, keeps the film from slipping either into melodrama or facile satire, the two traps into which this genre is most apt to fall. more

It feels fresh, almost improvised, mainly because Mills doesn't drive his scenes toward an obvious resolution. more

It's the kind of movie that lives and dies by a viewer's own idiosyncrasies. more

Pucci is an actor to watch: He rides this spellbinder without softening the truths that plague the thumbsucker in all of us. more

The movie contains many of the usual ingredients of teenage suburban angst tragicomedies, but writer-director Mike Mills, who began with a novel by Walter Kirn, uses actors who can riff. more

Seventeen year old Justin (Lou Taylor Pucci) is a high school senior who still sucks his thumb. His father, Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio) seems more concerned about it than his mother, Audrey (Tilda Swinton). One day, Justin's dentist Perry (Keanu Reeves) talks to him about this habit, among other things, and Justin stops sucking his thumb becoming a chaotic individual who has to use Ritalin to calm down. The transformation is miraculous and he becomes a fantastic student and a brilliant member of the debate team headed by Mr. Geary (Vince Vaughn). "Thumbsucker" written and directed by Mike... more

After passing many a delightful colorful poster, I finally saw Mike Mills' coming of age story Thumbsucker. It's a bittersweet film, mixing comedy with somewhat melancholy overtones in an Igby Goes Down sort of way. We follow a 17-year-old Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci) who hides behind his bangs and sucks his thumb as a means of comfort. Distant from his perfectionist father and concerned about his mother's crush on a drug-addicted actor, he struggles to rid himself of his thumbsucking habit and be everything he's supposed to be. It's a nice little relatable film with the occasional... more

i have no idea what the other reviewers on here are talking about. First of all, this movie had some hilarious moments. Keanu Reeves as the hypnotist is a great and funny scene. This movie is somewhat formulaic in the way that a young boy who doesnt fit in overcomes his problems and fits in - but it all goes to his head. But the directing is beautiful and the acting is quite brilliant (even vince vaughn is pretty good). and don't listen to the guy who said that me and you and everyone we know is unoriginal. that movie was as good as thumbsucker if not better. more