Review of Thumbsucker (2005) by Chads. — 27 Oct 2005

The suburbs is the setting for "Thumbsucker" and refreshingly, it's not Todd Solondz's suburbs. "Thumbsucker" is more like the NBC series "Freaks and Geeks" than "Napoleon Dynamite".

There's no trace of self-conscious indie cool in director Mike Mills' portrayal of the Cobb family. Justin(Lou Taylor Pucci) has parents who are real, and not caricatures. Mike(Vincent D'Onofrio) is a little distant, and Audrey(Tilda Swinton) shouldn't be asking her son to button the back of her blouse, but they don't do anything that's not recognizably true-to-life.

There's not a laugh to be had at the expense of anybody in "Thumbsucker". To cure himself of his oral fixation, Justin takes some prescribed pills, then goes off it, because the drug is "three molecules short of being cocaine.

" "Thumbsucker" is at its most winning when Justin is Max Fischer-like on the debate team. To impress his Lindsey Weir-ish dream girl, Rebecca(Kelii Garner, the one good actress in "Man of the House"), he leaves the geeks from his debate club to be a stoner.

Mills never quite convinces us that Justin would throw his debating career away after one bad performance. His departure seems like a contrivance to get Rebecca back into the story. "Thumbsucker" is without any big laughs, which is fine with me, since laughing at the characters seems to be typical of this genre.

Tilda Swinton, once again, as she proved in "The Deep End", is absolutely convincing playing an American mom.