MOVIE · 2005

Thumbsucker

ComedyDrama96 min

Lou Taylor Pucci is Justin Cobb, a teenager in suburban Oregon whose thumb-sucking habit keeps bleeding into school, family life, and romance. When his orthodontist (Keanu Reeves) uses hypnosis to help him stop, Justin starts looking for other ways to steady himself, from an ADHD diagnosis to Ritalin and the usual pressures of high school. Around him, Tilda Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio are his uneasy parents, trying to make sense of a kid who doesn't fit neatly anywhere. Mike Mills frames Justin's coming-of-age in a quietly offbeat suburban world where self-improvement, medication, and embarrassment all get tangled together.