Thumbsucker

Plot synopsis:
Justin Cobb is a shy 17-year-old in a family of four in suburban Oregon. He has a persistent thumb-sucking habit his father disapproves of, which has led to major orthodontic repair. He addresses his parents by their first names, Mike and Audrey, so as not to make his father feel old. Audrey, a registered nurse, is idly fascinated by actor Matt Schramm, entering a contest to win a date with him. She insists 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 which he joined to get closer to his environmentalist classmate Rebecca. 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, Justin's orthodontist, Dr. Perry Lyman, 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 Justin conspires 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; she quits the team and drifts into the stoners crowd. Justin's newfound aggressiveness nets the debate team repeated awards. Simultaneously, he begins to challenge the neuroses of the adults around him, especially their struggles with aging. With a somewhat deceitful cover letter, he applies to NYU, in spite of his mother's urging that he go to college closer to home.
After rambling incoherently at the state debate championship, Justin quits the debate team, throws away the pills, and seeks out Rebecca to hook him up with pot. During their smoking sessions, Rebecca blindfolds him and engages with him in kissing and other sexual activity, which Justin interprets as a relationship. But when he broaches the subject, Rebecca tells him otherwise, calling their meetings an "experiment." 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.
During a final checkup, Dr. Lyman reveals to Justin his discovery that thumb-sucking is not a medically debilitating problem, and says that everyone has their own flaws and nobody has all the answers—that 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.

Tags: violence, romantic, flashback

Review:
This is no typical teenage coming of age as interpreted by Hollywood.The film is an intelligent account of Justin's life and what makes him act the way he does.
Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn make excellent appearances in roles that are different to what they usually play.The film work because the good ensemble Mike Mills assembled for the movie..
I was impressed by his acting, and I really will have to re-evaluate my opinion of his talent after this movie.Since I'm talking about the talent in the movie I'll keep going and give the biggest and most deserved mention to the lead, Lou Taylor Pucci as Justin Cobb, the teenager who is just starting out on his journey of really growing up, finding girls, himself and a new relationship with his parents, something we've all been through (unless you were finding boys!) around that age and we have all faced with equally different results.
For the most part of the movie I thought Vincent D'Onofrio was the weaker part and the lesser actor, however I ended up feeling that this was down to his role and that of the dysfunctional Father who is having severe problems coming to terms with his own life.
Likewise I felt that Tilda Swinton was the stronger actor of the two, until the Father gained more scenes, then I felt she was much weaker and her storyline seemed relegated to merely showing us that another of the characters has their own problems, and to introduce us to Matt Schraam, the addicted to anything actor.At the beginning of the movie we find that Jason has a problem, he sucks his thumb for comfort and the movie shows us in an easy and effective way what he actually feels and hopes for during these moments.
Through the film it explores this through the idea of addiction, and how some people need to be addicted to something to get them through, from the extreme of the actor to the lead himself who starts out addicted to sucking his thumb.Another issue brought out of this movie is the idea that drugs are the answer, and that if there is a problem with someone then they immediately should turn to a Doctor and attempt a cure.
That scene is very strong, and at that moment when the Teachers leap you don't know whether to laugh or feel awkward and ashamed that society has turned so easily to drugs being the answer instead of trying to turn to each other, open up a little, and not being so wrapped up in yourselves.It's filmed really well, and apart from the dream\comforting scenes and the representation of the effects of the ADD drug, you forget that you're watching a camera filming the movie.
as an adolescent Justin, the main character, struggles with trying to stop sucking his thumb, the film creatively explores issues of identity, self-worth, achievement, family dynamics and so many other elements of life that are difficult to articulate.
Justin and his mother Audrey seem to be alike - they both have crushes: he, for a girl in his debating class, and she, for an actor on daytime TV."Thumbsucker" shows that teenagers with a lot of parental love and support can also end up feeling alienated anyway.
I was not expecting much from a teen movie, but this one really made its way to my heart.The story is about a 17-year-old Justin who has problems with his self confidence, and that causes him to suck his thumb.
His weirdo dentist (Keanu Reeves) uses even hypnosis to help him to get rid of his thumbsucking...The story is about growing up, and Lou Taylor Pucci as Justin delivers a brilliant job.
But the main thing are the "sidekicks": Reeves the dentist and Benjamin Bratt as a totally weird drug addict actor and Vince Vaughn as Justin's teacher just do it, give some laughter to the otherwise serious story, and make this movie enjoyment..
First-time director Mike Mills guides a cast of well-knowns through a decent script that peers into one teenager's coming of age and his battle with an unusual addiction: he sucks his thumb.Yes, Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) sucks his thumb.
His father Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio) clearly has issues with it while his mother Audrey (Tilda Swinton, also the film's producer) is a little more lenient (though she has the hots for T.V. actor Matt Schramm, played by Benjamin Bratt), and it just gives his younger brother Joel (Chase Offerle) greater incentive to insult him.
A new leaf is turned over the for the young man as he joins the debate team and finds widespread success there, gets on the good side of his laid-back teacher Mr. Geary (Vince Vaughn) who also has some hair issues, and finds a little teen love with fellow classmate Rebecca (Kelli Garner).But it's short-lived when Justin is also diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and is prescribed Ritalin(?) but goes cold turkey when he realizes he's addicted to it.
For example, the father, played by Vincent D'Onfrio seems to have a little to no parenting skills and while it makes an interesting character, it's a bit discomforting to be at peace with a character like that actually possibly existing.The biggest Indie flaw is that there seems to be no thematic direction in the film.
Keanu Reeves channeling his "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" character as a dentist.I respect that the filmmakers got this made, so maybe there's hope for other films with good stories to reach the light of day.
The story was so dull that I actually envied the main character in the scenes where he is in the dentist's chair because root canal surgery is preferable than viewing this film.There is not a single character in the movie that seems real and its not the fault of the actors they were simply working such a terrible script that there was no hope of rescue.Normally I would write quite an in depth review but this film does not warrant one and the only reason I wrote anything at all was to maybe save 1 or 2 other people enduring the hell on earth I have just endured.Only one mans opinion of course but I am sure others have felt the same hope its of some use to someone..
It was a complete waste of time and money, and although I am a fan of Keanu Reaves and Vince, they really should have avoided this script.I watched quite a while back, so can't really comment on the editing, etc - but the bitter after-taste still lingers and when I came across it here on IMDb, had to vent some latent frustration that had been pent up.It's over-rated as a comedy, actually there's nothing remotely funny about it, and has no direction as a "coming-of-age" movie.My advice : save yourself the hassle of returning to this page and commenting on how much this movie sucked..
Tilda is such a moving performer and she gives her all as a mother questioning herself and her role as a parent.Mike Mills is a first time movie director but he accurately captured the indecision and pathos of being a teenage.
"Thumbsucker," a first-time film by Mike Mills, is a successful coming-of-age story because of strong, restrained acting and a subtle attitude.
His mom Audrey (Tilda Swinton) is shocked and his dad Jack (Vincent D'Onofrio) is disapproving; and his orthodontist Perry (Keanu Reeves) -- who fancies himself as a consciousness-raising therapist, tries to cure him with hypnosis evoking his "power animal" and making the thumb taste to him like Echinacea.Perry's cure works but Justin is going nuts in the absence of his habit and his girlfriend Rebecca (Kelli Garner), an environmental activist, drops him because he can't be "open" with her and he drops out of the debating team.
If "Thumbsucker", his debut feature, feels like the kind of small, quirky picture that sometimes gives independent movies a bad name it might simply be because it deals with aspects of growing up that even small, independent movies tend to overlook.Our teenage hero, (an excellent Lou Taylor Pucci), has issues that tend to stem from his inability to stop sucking his thumb but that's only the tip of the iceberg.
Good performances, too, from Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio as Pucci's parents, (only to be expected), but also from Vince Vaughan, never better as Pucci's teacher though Keanu Reeves, woefully miscast as a hippy dentist, is his usual wooden self.
Seventeen-year-old Lou Pucci (as Justin Cobb) still sucks his thumb, which disturbs his parents - registered nurse Tilda Swinton and ex-football star Vincent D'Onofrio (as Audrey and Mike).
He likes bosomy pot-smoking Kelli Garner (as Rebecca), thinks mother Swinton might be having an affair, and...Strangest of all, Pucci is unable to realize orthodontist Keanu Reeves (as Perry Lyman) is more than a little weird.
It is nicely cast, with Pucci and Swinton especially believable as mother and son.******* Thumbsucker (1/23/05) Mike Mills ~ Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vince Vaughn.
In Thumbsucker, we are introduced to Justin, a boy who sucks his thumb, even though he is a teenager.Like most teenage boys, Justin has a troubled relationships with his parents, brilliantly played by Vincent D'Onofrio and Tilda Swinton.
Creating a lot of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival, but unfortunately having a very limited theatrical release, "Thumbsucker" recently came out on DVD for the mass audiences to see.This independent film, based on the book by the same name, attempts to display the problems of American families in suburbia and a kids coming of age story.
Although this plot seems a little contrived, "Thumbsucker" tackles many different issues on the subject that makes this film stand out from the rest.The main character Justin (Lou Pucci) has a dilemma.
The DVD itself is not very exciting having only a behind the scenes documentary, an interview with the author and director, and commentary by the director.The behind the scenes documentary is fairly basic showing the different actors and their opinion on the movie, which is always that it is a great film and they loved doing it.The interview between the author of the book Walter Kirn and director Mike Mills fortunately is extremely interesting.
Normally I do not like to see movies on small screen, but with no chance in near future that this movie would be released in the theatres anywhere, the best option for me was to make myself cozy in bed and let the disc revolve.The movie is about growing up years of 17 year old boy Justin Cobb, played by Lou Taylor Pucci, (I read that he was selected for this role after audition of over 200 boys).
A special reference for Vincent D'Onofrio who plays Justin's father  who won the best actor for this role at Stockholm Film Festival The best high of the movie for me was when the Greenpeace book was shown and reference made for the appreciation of GREENPEACE work.
But Justin, who is heartbreakingly portrayed by Lou Taylor Pucci, is a young man who is open to learning from his mistakes, a fact which leads to a genuinely touching and inspiring conclusion to the film.Expertly written and directed by Mike Mills (based on the novel by Walter Kirn), "Thumbsucker" is an observant, poignant tale that anyone who has ever felt that he "just didn't quite fit in" - and that would clearly be everyone - can certainly relate to.
Even the two key non-parental adults in his life - a well-meaning but often brusque debate coach (Vince Vaughn) and an equally well-meaning but somewhat spacey New Age orthodontist (Keanu Reeves) who tries to hypnotize Justin out of sucking his thumb - are portrayed as flawed but caring individuals.Mills has drawn rich and beautiful performances from his entire cast - even Keanu Reeves, who gets to sum up the movie's message in his climactic speech: that we spend so much time trying to find ways to "fix" ourselves that we wind up becoming eternally frustrated and utterly miserable in the process.
Without being tiring, the film is yes, a philosophical, but full workmanship of affection, mainly with the notable performance of Lou Taylor Pucci (more good actor in the festivals of Sundance and Berlin of 2005), that it makes of its unsafe Justin a memorable personage, and obtains to be distinguished in a cast of veterans, making with that, if it wants let us distrust that this is only, one of its first works for the cinema..
Thumbsucker is a touching and heartfelt dramedy that, if you feel the film in yourself, you'll love it just like I did.Thumbsucker stars Lou Pucci as Justin, a 17 year old who, you guessed it, still sucks his thumb.
After the hypnosis and discovering he has ADD, Justin completely changes, enveloping himself in his debate team, marijuana, and experiments with sex with a girl (Kelli Garner, 'London').Thumbsucker is truly an actor's movie, and Lou Pucci takes full advantage of it.
The leading character, who plays the teenager is an unknown kid actor to me, who really delivers a great acting achievement as well!However silly the subject of thumbsucking might seem, this is NOT a silly comedy picture, although it has lots of funny moments.
i watched this movie cuz that one of my friends asked me to.and the reason for why he would like to watch this movie was that it was partly filmed in Oregon~~he he he..sounds a bit ridiculous huh?hmmm...anyway,i know that this movie has got an award for the best actor somewhere before,and yeah,the performances of the actors in this movie were really nice,no matter the leading roles or the supporting roles,they all did shine!and actually when i saw the beginning of this movie,the first thought in my mind was "oh,this movie looks a bit like 'Junebug'!"i didn't mean the stories or the structures of these two movies were alike..just..the feelings that those two movies gave me were really similar!both of them started from the families,and finished by leaving the families,and both of them looked quite real and just like the things that we might have experienced,and also the weakness of these movies was almost the same which was that both of them lacked of the real climax!i meant that i didn't really see that kinda breathtaking moments appearing in these two movies,maybe because that they were just about the things that might happen in real life and usually that you couldn't really ask the things that might happen in real to be that dramatic~but that actually really made watching this movie a bit boring,and also to make the whole movie a bit...loose~but still,i would like to recommend people to watch this movie,cuz for those people who have already experienced that period in their lifetime,it could probably remind them of some interesting memories,and for those people who are just about to experience that,it could be like the lesson for telling them what to do or what they should think about to do!.
Other films such as this one include Pieces of April, The Chumscrubber, Junebug, In the Bedroom, The Mudge Boy, Mean Creek etc - films that take unpopular subjects and use that as a pivotal point for opening superficial wounds in the integument of family units.Adapted from the novel by Walter Kirn, screenwriter and new director Mike Mills introduces us to the Cobbs, a Portland, Oregon family of four, each with secrets or private problems that prevent them from functioning at full capacity: father Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio) fractured his knee at the brink of a brilliant football career and married Audrey (Tilda Swinton) who, lost in the routine of a boring life, works as a nurse who fantasizes about a TV star Matt Schramm (Benjamin Bratt) to the point of entering contests to meet him; youngest son Joel (Chase Offerle) is not allowed a life in the household dominated by the bizarre behavior of older brother Justin (Lou Taylor Pucci) who is a chronic underachiever and geek and still sucks his thumb at age 17!
Each of the roles is filled by actors who surpass even their own standards: Tilda Swinton is amazing in the breadth of her emotional role; Lou Taylor Pucci may be only 20 years old but he is a dynamite actor; Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt and Vincent D'Onofrio - each out of their element - prove that given the right material they can produce subtle, nuanced performances.
Thumbsucker almost makes a point.It is worth seeing for Keanu Reeves' performance alone, as an orthodontist (!) saying lines like "Call upon your power animal." Aside from that merit, there is of course Kelli Garner, one of the more riveting women to appear in movies in recent years.Unfortunately, Vince Vaughan is wasted and the coming-of-age aspects of the story are undistinguished and typical, and the subplot of the mother's crush on a TV star never quite clicks with the central story.
Keanu Reeves is awesome as Justin's dentist, the movie really picks up in the scenes with him.Thumbsucker may not a be a revolutionary film about growing up, but its still a great film that gives you a really warm feeling inside, showing that things aren't as bad as you think..
This film uses this formula again, and in a very successful way, although the focus is clearly on Justin, the teenager played by Lou Pucci, and the other family members have more supporting role character.
With the great addition of music from Polyphonic Spree and Elliot Smith, this movie really gets to the troubles of life for most American families dealing with dysfunctional households, young relationships, dabbling with drugs to cover your awkwardness, and trying to figure out how to put your past to rest.For those who haven't seen it, Lou Taylor Pucci plays Justin Cobb, a high school student who tries his hardest to get by with an addiction to sucking his thumb (for security perhaps?).
"Thumbsucker" is a movie about a kid named Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) who has a bad habit of still sucking on his thumb.