''Thumbsucker'' is a 2005 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

in his feature directorial debut. The film stars

Lou Taylor Pucci Lou Taylor Pucci (born July 27, 1985) is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), for which he won a Speci ...

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

Kelli Garner Kelli Brianne Garner (born April 11, 1984) is an American actress who has appeared in a variety of independent and mainstream films, television, and theater. A native of Southern California, Garner made her feature film debut at age seventeen ...

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Swingers''. He has appeared in ...

, and

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

. The plot focuses on Justin Cobb, a teenager in suburban

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, as he copes with his

thumb-sucking Thumb sucking is a behavior found in humans, chimpanzees, captive ring-tailed lemurs, and other primates.Benjamin, Lorna S.: "The Beginning of Thumbsucking." ''Child Development'', Vol. 38, No. 4 (Dec., 1967), pp. 1065–1078. It usually involv ...

problem, romance, and his diagnosis with

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

and subsequent experience using

Ritalin Methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin and Concerta among others, is the most widely prescribed central nervous system (CNS) stimulant medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and, to a lesser extent ...

. The screenplay was adapted from the 1999

Walter Kirn Walter Norris Kirn (born August 3, 1962) is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is the author of eight books, most notably '' Up in the Air'', which was made into a film of the same name starring George Clooney. Overview As ...

novel of the same name. Swinton also served as an executive producer. The film was shot on location in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

in 2003, and premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in January 2005. It received a limited release in the United States on September 16, 2005.

Plot

Justin Cobb is a shy 17-year-old in a family of four in suburban

. He has a persistent thumb-sucking habit his father disapproves of, which has led to major

orthodontic Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...

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 A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

, 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 Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

, 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 Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

, coaching Justin to find his

power animal Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals a ...

(a deer) and suggesting that his thumb will taste like

echinacea ''Echinacea'' is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family. It has ten species, which are commonly called coneflowers. They are found only in eastern and central North America, where they grow in moist to dry prairies and ope ...

. 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

. 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 Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

of the adults around him, especially their struggles with aging. With a somewhat deceitful cover letter, he applies to

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

, 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.

Cast

as Justin Cobb ** Colton Tanner as 10-year-old Justin ** Mason Bromberg as 4-year-old Justin *

as Audrey Cobb *

as Mike Cobb *

as Dr. Perry Lyman *

as Rebecca *

as Matt Schramm *

as Mr. Geary * Chase Offerle as Joel Cobb * Kit Koenig as Principal *

Nancy O'Dell Nancy O'Dell (born Nancy Evelyn Humphries; 1966) is an American television host and entertainment journalist. She served as co-anchor of the syndicated entertainment news show ''Entertainment Tonight'' from January 3, 2011, to August 2, 2019. E ...

as herself *

('' cameo'') as Debate judge

Production

Casting

Lou Taylor Pucci was cast in the lead role of Justin after director Mills auditioned around 150 teenaged actors. Swinton was cast as his mother, Audrey, after meeting director Mills eighteen months prior to the production: "I met Mike 18 months ago. We started a conversation, and it kept going." D'Onofrio was cast as Justin's father, Mike, after being impressed by the script, as he felt it "was a tough story to tell." Reeves was cast in the supporting role of Perry Lyman, and completed his work in the film over a four-day period. Initially,

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

was attached to star as Justin's debate team coach, Mr. Geary, but was replaced by

due to a scheduling conflict.

Filming

The film is set in the fictional town of Beaverwood, Oregon, while the source novel had originally been set in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Initially, the producers had planned to shoot the film in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, but the production was incentivized to shoot in Oregon after Governor

Ted Kulongoski Theodore Ralph Kulongoski ( ; born November 5, 1940) is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative As ...

promised a rebate matching the filming costs of Canada. ''

Mean Creek ''Mean Creek'' is a 2004 American coming-of-age psychological drama film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes and starring Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck, and Carly Schroeder. It was produced by Susa ...

'' (2004), another independent film, was shot in the area at the same time, taking advantage of this rebate. Filming took place in the summer of 2003 in the

, beginning in June and completing in late August. Locations included Portland, Tualatin, and Beaverton,

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...

Vernonia ''Vernonia'' is a genus of about 350 species of forbs and shrubs in the Daisy family Asteraceae. Some species are known as ironweed. Some species are edible and of economic value. They are known for having intense purple flowers. There have been ...

, and Tigard. The school sequences were shot at

Tualatin High School Tualatin High School is a public high school located in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. Students in grades 9 through 12 attend the school, which is part of the Tigard-Tualatin School District. Opened in 1992, school teams are known as the Timberw ...

in Tualatin. During filming, Swinton had her twin sons on set with her, and spent time in-between filming at

Trillium Lake Trillium Lake is a lake situated south-southwest of Mount Hood in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is formed by a dam at the headwaters of Mud Creek, tributary to the Salmon River. It was created by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in 196 ...

, and Pucci celebrated his 18th birthday during filming. The final scene in which Justin runs through the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

campus was shot in New York City, and the only scene not shot in Oregon.

Release

Critical response

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives ''Thumbsucker'' a score of 71% based on 108 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus is: "Though quirky coming-of-age themes are common in indie films, this one boasts a smart script and a great cast."

Steven Rea Steven Rea (also known as Steven X. Rea) is an American journalist, film critic,

of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it a "quiet, quirky gem" and "terrific".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave it three stars out of four, writing "I have focused on Justin, but really the movie is equally about the adult characters, who all seem to have lacked adequate parenting themselves. We talk about the tragedy of children giving birth to children; maybe that can happen at any age." ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

''s Ken Tucker commented on the film's poignancy, writing: "One of the wonderful things about ''Thumbsucker'' is that, unlike so many movies in which a character changes in order to propel the plot forward, this one stops to follow up on the consequences of those changes."

A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' praised the performances in the film, adding that "Mills, who wrote and directed, keeps the film from slipping either into melodrama or facile satire, the two traps into which this genre is most apt to fall." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' was less laudatory of the film, noting: "Although the intellectual level of ''Thumbsucker'' is quite a few cuts above many teen angst movies and the film boasts several impressively nuanced portrayals as well, it is not sufficiently distinctive to stand wholly apart from the pack. Furthermore, its literary roots peek through rather too often in dialogue that might play well on the page but doesn't sound real when coming out of the mouths of actors."

Soundtrack

The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the film was originally to consist of a number of

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or Sound recording and reproduction, recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referr ...

performed by

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

, but he died before the project's completion.

Tim DeLaughter Tim DeLaughter (born November 18, 1965) is an American rock musician. He is the frontman of the bands Tripping Daisy, The Polyphonic Spree, and Preteen Zenith. At the 61st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, DeLaughter was nominated for Ou ...

and

The Polyphonic Spree The Polyphonic Spree is an American choral rock band from Dallas, Texas that was formed in 2000 by singer/songwriter Tim DeLaughter. The band's pop and rock songs are augmented by a large vocal choir, and instruments such as flute, trumpet, fre ...

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.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Movie stills
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thumbsucker 2005 films 2000s coming-of-age comedy-drama films American independent films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2005 independent films Films about dysfunctional families Films about high school debate Films about hypnosis Films based on American novels Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Sundance Film Festival award winners Sony Pictures Classics films Films directed by Mike Mills 2005 directorial debut films 2005 comedy films 2005 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films