‎Thumbsucker (2005) directed by Mike Mills • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Thumbsucker

2005 Directed by Mike Mills

Justin, a teenager boy, throws himself and everyone around him into chaos when he attempts to break free from his addiction to his thumb.

Lou Taylor Pucci Tilda Swinton Vincent D'Onofrio Keanu Reeves Benjamin Bratt Vince Vaughn Kelli Garner Chase Offerle

96 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Naughty ★★ 2

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Film #22 of the February Movie Challenge : Keanu Reeves or Bust!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/february-movie-challenge-keanu-reeves-or/
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Would have liked it more had they reduced this 96 minute film by 95 minutes and 55 seconds! Leaving everything on the cutting room floor except for the scene where Matt Schramm (Benjamin Bratt) tells Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) "We're all just scared little animals"

Considering the mad talent featured in this film (Tilda Swinton, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt, Vince Vaughn) this little indie looked quite promising! The actors were all quite wonderful but try as they might not even their star power and amazing talent could save this film!

I mean come on! You've snagged the great Tilda Swinton.. and the best you can do is squander her immense talent by casting her in a role where her crowning achievement involves (SPOILER ALERT) retrieving a drug filled balloon from Benjamin Bratt's arse by ramrodding her fist up the ole Hershey Highway!
Review by Jakub Flasz ★★★½

Flawed and driven by post-American Beauty inspirations as it is, Mike Mills' debut is an enjoyable exploration of the pains of growing up. Aided by a handful of visual metaphors, one of which is found in the title, Thumbsucker is a very clinical look at the process of coming of age from the perspective of the teenager and his parents as well. With some formidable acting performances from Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio, Thumbsucker touches on a fragile dynamic between the parents and their kids and focuses on the idea that none of them know what they're doing.

At all stages of our lives we still run aimlessly with our arms flailing. We respond to problems to the best of…
Review by Chris Upson ★★★½

if u would like good 3 reasons to watch:
a) Keanu Reeves is in it
b) he says this:

"That's all we humans can do. Guess. Try. Hope. But, Justin, just pray you don't fool yourself into thinking you've got the answer. Because that's bullshit. The trick is living without an answer.
...
I think."

c) not even sure it's his best line in the movie
Review by Anthony ★★★

My first Mike Mills film and I don't really have much to say on this. This is the typical Sundance-esque indie coming-of-age shenanigans that seem wholly cookie cutter these days (this was made 12 years ago, so I'd like to give it slack). It's a interesting story but nothing massively original but it works as a vehicle to show that Mike Mills obviously knows what he is doing behind the camera and has a way of getting some good performances from his cast.

Thumbsucker feels a bit disjointed narratively and the whole thumb sucking idea is glossed over in favour of general coming-of-age tropes. Mills' includes mild commentary on teen drug use, particularly ADHD medication which seems does seem problematic. I don't think schools should be advising what medication should be prescribed and I am inclined to think he agrees.
Review by Kate™ ★★½

i feel like i just watched 3 different movies, and one of them was only half finished
Review by Ash ★★★★½ 2

Thought maybe I just like this film for sentimental reasons. Liberated this DVD from a grocery store when I was 14.
Upon rewatching almost 10 years later... I still like it.
Awkward, quirky, insecure, weird, angsty.
Maybe one of my favorite Keanu Reeves perfomances.
Elliot Smith in the soundtrack?! Win.
"The trick is living without an answer, I think."
"Mother fucking cock sucker"

Recent reviews

Review by Rahul Chahal ★★★½

-lacks the characteristic warmth and comfort I've become complacent with in a Mike Mills film
- the lead character is interesting but I think he lack stage presence for me to really engage with him (spent way too much time wishing he would wash his hair)- would have preferred a character more like Max Fisher (Rushmore) or Benjamin (The Graduate)
- pacing across first two acts felt a bit clunky

+ Keanu reeves AND tilda swinton
+ great third act
+ moments which felt genuinely profound and thought provoking
+ illustrates the sacrifices people make when trying to get or realise what they actually want (without it feeling at all contrived)
+ I already want to watch it again to…
Review by jackdoran ★★★

in this subgenre, i'd say mike mills is better than Wes anderson and sofia coppola but nowhere close to Todd solondz or Noah baumbach
Review by Lex ★★★½

Keanu! Smoking! Cigarettes!
Review by MARTIN BRADLEY ★★★

Mike Mills may not be the most prolific of filmmakers, (he's only made three feature films in the last 10 years), but he's certainly one of the most idiosyncratic. 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. This is essentially a film about psychoses but it lacks the hysteria we tend to associate with American films on…
Review by batsbats ★★½

For the first 20 minutes I was convinced I was going to love this movie because of :
- Keanu Reeves as a dentist who talks about sucking your thumb in the way a wise shaman from a fantasy film would talk about a prophecy
- Lou Pucci's being cute and adorable
- Lou Pucci's hair which is pretty much the capillary representation of perfection

But then nothing happened and what did happen was boring and then I realize this was the same director who did "Beginners" which is extremely boring so the movie was probably not going to get more exciting and indeed it didn't...
Review by Bianca_stg ★★★★½

Amo mucho a Mike Mills ❤️
Review by Andre de Nervaux ★★★½

A cute story about a teenager holding onto his youth and not being able to grow up because of it.

Soundtrack was brilliant.

A great debut for mike mills first film. you can see how his style changes throughout beginners and 20th century women.

20th century women is brilliant and my favourite out of his 3.

excited to see what he does next.
Review by Mikko Pihkoluoma ★★★½

Still almost as great as I remembered it being.
Review by Raul Marques ★★★★

It kind of feels like Dolan's 'I Killed My Mother', in the sense that's a relatively contrived/muted, fully character-driven drama, that's subtly an ensemble piece, debut by a pop-inclined auteur who would naturally evolve into something bigger without losing his acute sensitivity. The star-studded supporting cast of Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Vincent D'Onofrio and Poor Man's McConaughey all manage to deliver performances that are extremely offputting, yet weirdly click by the time the film ends.