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[ Buy It ] |
November 30, 1999
January 1, 2005
Sony Pictures
R (Restricted)
Mike Mills (II)
Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt, Kelli Garner, Vince Vaughn, Chase Offerle, Dakota Goldhor, Walter Kirn, Kit Koenig, Sarah Lucht, Arvin V. Entena, Eric Normington, Nancy O'Dell, Allen Go, Lanette Prazeau, Bob Stephenson (II), Tyler Gannon, Colton Tanner
A sterling cast--including Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, and especially Tilda Swinton--lifts this coming-of-age story above the norm. Justin (Lou Pucci, Personal Velocity) is 17, yet he still sucks his thumb. Depressed, he frets that his parents (D'Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket, and Swinton, Orlando) are going to split up, that he has no focus in life, and that the girl he longs for can never love him--until his orthodontist (Reeves, The Matrix) hypnotizes Justin into quitting his thumbsucking, and a questionable diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder results in medication that launches him into a wave of over-achievement. The script, though it has some clever flourishes, never lifts beyond typical adolescent turmoil, but thanks to wonderfully vivid and multi-layered performances (including Vaughn, Wedding Crashers, as a debate teacher with hair issues), the movie never flags. Swinton also executive-produced the movie; she clearly saw in this suburban mother a character she could invest with as much emotion and intensity as the angel Gabriel (Constantine) or the White Witch of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). It's rich, intricate acting, never showy, yet mesmerizing. Thumbsucker also features Benjamin Bratt (Pinero) and Kelli Garner (Man of the House). --Bret Fetzer - Amazon.com
