Review of Thumbsucker (2005) by Bryan T — 19 Oct 2007

Justin Cobb (Pucci) is a troubled goofup of a teen with a thumbsucking habit, which his New Age orthodontist (Reeves) is trying to help him quit. Justin has also got distant parents: his mom Audrey (Swinton) is a nurse and a bit of a lost soul who's obsessed with a TV star, and his dad Mike (D'Onofrio) is a felled athlete and a hulking slab of ineffectuality. Justin goes on Ritalin, joins the debate team, and becomes a hypercompetitive jackass. Then he goes off Ritalin and onto pot and messes around with a stoner girl. Then he gets into college and moves to New York City. The end.

I attended a screening of Mike Mills's music videos at the EMP a couple of years ago, and I had been looking forward to this film ever since then. Unfortunately, it didn't end up living up to my expectations. There are some good moments and performances in the film for sure. The cast is generally solid. Newcomer Lou Pucci brings the right degrees of detachment and intensity to the role of Justin, with a bit of a young-Johnny Depp quality. Some of the supporting performances are memorable: Keanu Reeves riffs perfectly on his own persona in his role, and his transformation throughout the film is humorous; Vince Vaughn, who normally annoys me, is actually very amusing as Justin's debate teacher; and there's a shocking and funny moment involving Benjamin Bratt as Audrey's famous crush. The soundtrack is great, featuring songs from Elliott Smith and The Polyphonic Spree. And the cinematography is pretty nice, although I must admit that I expected it to be more visually exciting.

My main gripe with this movie, which could be the fault of the novel that it's based on (from author Walter Kirn), is that the narrative glue holding it together is not very strong; it feels disjointed, and it's hard to get a grip on the story as a whole. It just seems like some stuff that happens, and, in the end, it feels kind of inconsequential. Despite the perspective that Justin gains, in the real world I would have a hard time believing that he would end up being much less of a goofup in college than he was in high school, so his final symbolic triumph just feels empty. This film definitely has its pleasures, but it's ultimately unsatisfying.