Themes: Eccentric Families, Journey of Self-Discovery, Suburban Dysfunction
Main Cast: Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A high-school senior finds that fate (and modern medicine) plays some interesting tricks with his personality in this dramatic comedy. Justin Conn (Lou Taylor Pucci) is a neurotic teenager who has a difficult time with his peers, especially Rebecca (Kelli Garner), a cute girl in his debate class with whom he is somewhat mutually infatuated. It isn't much better at home with his obnoxious younger brother Joel (Chase Offerle), his father, Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is busy having a midlife crisis, and mother Audrey (Tilda Swinton), who's infatuated with one of her favorite TV actors (Benjamin Bratt). All this anxiety has to go somewhere, and Justin's manifestation of his troubles comes in the form of sucking his thumb, which makes him even more of an outcast. Dr. Perry Lyman (Keanu Reeves), an orthodontist who seems to double as a new age therapist, treats Justin with hypnosis; meanwhile, the school psychologist decides he has Attention Deficit Disorder, and treats him with medication. Suddenly, Justin stops sucking his thumb and becomes an outgoing overachiever, single-handedly taking his school debate team to the state championship. But Justin's relationshop with his debate coach, Mr. Geary (Vince Vaughn), becomes strained, and the boy tries to mold yet another new identity for himself. Thumbsucker was the first feature film from Mike Mills, who previously distinguished himself in commercials and music videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
An almost perfectly balanced combination of real-life adolescent awkwardness and laugh-out-loud comedy, writer/director Mike Mills' Thumbsucker is an absolute success. Lou Taylor Pucci shines in his first leading role in a feature film with a performance that is nuanced, funny, and geared well for the camera. The young actor strikes a careful balance in his portrayal of Justin, so that while his screen-presence is compelling, his struggles still remain raw. The grace with which Pucci mixes the emotion and humor in the script can't be praised enough, as this is what keeps the potentially cumbersome subject matter of a 17-year-old thumbsucker from becoming too awkward for audiences to handle. It's only too easy to see how an actor with less charisma would have left audiences too uncomfortable to enjoy the film, while a run-of-the-mill cutie-pie couldn't possibly have done justice to such understated emotional material. Pucci's ability to pull us in with his tenderness and charm is what enables us to put ourselves in Justin's shoes: his imperfect relationship with his parents comes off as both strange and universal, and while his embarrassing fixation always seems potentially humiliating, it also feels analogous to any other coping mechanism, so it's never outside the viewer's scope of relating. The supporting cast also does a stellar job of injecting that highly necessary laughter, sarcasm, and perspective. Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio evoke flawed but forgivable characters with the masterful skill we've come to expect from them, while Keanu Reeves approaches his role with such surprisingly self-effacing grace, you almost want to pat him on the back.Vince Vaughn takes his own road less traveled and reminds us of the subtlety that first landed him on the map, as he avoids the frat-pack comic style we've come to expect from him and keeps his performance as the eccentric high-school debate coach reeled in despite numerous opportunities to jump over the top. The beauty with which these actors engage in the poignant and infuriating tangle of their characters' relationships owes to more than just chemistry but also to an organic realism in the script itself. The resulting interplay combines the passion of an opera, the delicacy of a ballet, and the rawness of an unflinching documentary, turning what could easily have been a cringingly uncomfortable satire into something both beautiful and real. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Walter Cahall - Art Director, Jeanne McCarthy - Casting, April Napier - Costume Designer, Haze J. F. Bergeron III - First Assistant Director, Dawn Massaro - First Assistant Director, Mike Mills - Director, Haines Hall - Editor, Angus Wall - Editor, Bob Yari - Executive Producer, Ted Hope - Executive Producer, Anne Carey - Executive Producer, Cathy Schulman - Executive Producer, Tim DeLaughter - Composer (Music Score), Brian Reitzell - Musical Direction/Supervision, Judy Becker - Production Designer, Joaquin Baca-Asay - Cinematographer, Bob Stephenson - Producer, Heather Loeffler - Set Designer, Kent Sparling - Sound/Sound Designer, Glenn Micallef - Sound/Sound Designer, Jonathan Millller - Sound Editor, Mike Mills - Screenwriter, The Polyphonic Spree - Featured Music, Walter Kim - Book Author
Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci) is a shy 17-year old in a family of four in suburban Oregon. He has a persistent thumb sucking habit that his father (Vincent D'Onofrio) disapproves of, and that has previously led to major orthodontic repair. He addresses his parents by their first names (Mike and Audrey) due to his father's insecurity of aging. His mother (Tilda Swinton), a registered nurse, begins an idle fascination with actor Matt Schramm (Benjamin Bratt), entering a contest to win a date with the star. Audrey insists vigorously that it is "innocent fun", but is inordinately concerned with looking attractive for the contest.
Justin struggles on his school's debate team, led by Mr. Geary (Vince Vaughn), which he joined to get closer to smart, attractive environmentalist Rebecca (Kelli Garner). He tries to start a relationship with her, but she rejects him after he cannot open up to her about his thumb sucking habit.
At a regular checkup, his orthodontist Perry Lyman (Keanu Reeves) indicates he can tell that Justin is still sucking his thumb, and attempts hypnosis, coaching Justin to find his power animal (a deer), and suggesting that his thumb will taste like echinacea. This works, and Justin finds his thumb distasteful, but falls deeper into frustration without the crutch. After conspiring with his brother to disrupt Dr. Lyman in a bicycle race with Justin's father, his school counselor prods the Cobbs to give him Ritalin. While his parents wring their hands over the idea, Justin insists that he needs the help.
Almost immediately after beginning treatment, Justin begins to have elevated energy, confidence, and focus. He begins to excel on the debate team, unseating Rebecca from the star position, who quits debate team and drifts into the stoner crowd. Justin's newfound aggressiveness nets the debate team repeated awards. Simultaneously, he begins to challenge the neuroses of the adults around him, particularly for their struggles with aging. With a somewhat deceitful cover letter, he applies to NYU, in spite of his mother's insistence he go to college closer to home.
After his ill-prescribed Ritalin leads him to ramble in circles and lose the state debate championship, he quits the debate team, throws away the pills, and seeks out Rebecca to hook him up with pot. During repeated smoking incursions, Rebecca routinely blindfolds him and engages in heavy petting, which Justin interprets as a relationship. After reaching third base, he broaches the subject, and Rebecca rejects him, considering the acts as merely her own sexual exploration. He quits both her and the drugs.
Both Justin and his father suspect that Audrey is having an affair with Schramm, after she is transferred to a celebrity rehab facility where Schramm has been committed. Attempting to catch his mother in the act, he instead meets Schramm sneaking a smoke in the bushes, and learns the unromantic truth. The next day, he receives an acceptance letter from NYU.
At a final visit to Perry, the doctor reveals to Justin his discovery that thumb sucking is not a medically debilitating problem, that everyone has their own flaws, and nobody has all the answers; in fact, learning to live without having the answers is (perhaps) the answer. On his flight to New York, Justin dreams of reaching his goal of being a TV anchor, "sharing the truth with the world". He wakes up after sleeptalking to find his thumb in his mouth, and an attractive girl smiling at him. Slightly embarrassed but self-confident, he introduces himself.
The soundtrack to the film was originally to consist of a number of cover songs performed by Elliott Smith, but he died before the project's completion. Tim DeLaughter and The Polyphonic Spree were then chosen to compose an original soundtrack after Mills attended one of their shows and was impressed. Three of Smith's songs remain on the soundtrack.
