SummaryAn honest and funny look at the struggles of people who feel deeply flawed, both those in youth and middle age. They yearn to be anything but their real selves with their real fears and doubts. Instead, they want to be "normal." They look for magic answers to fix themselves – only to realize that they can’t be someone else, that "normal" does ... Read More
Directed By:Mike Mills
Written By:Walter Kirn, Mike Mills
Thumbsucker
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
User score
Mixed or Average
4.3
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
69
85% Positive
28 Reviews
28 Reviews
15% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
88
Quiet, quirky gem.
80
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.
75
Most disappointing is the ending, which, in projecting the possibility of a saner and more hopeful world, is a bit of a cop-out.
75
Thumbsucker is true to its nature, and that makes Justin's eventual transformation all the more rewarding.
70
It's a familiar story, but Mills and Pucci treat it as if it were the first time anyone had thought to tell it.
63
The film's underlying notion, that imperfection is the essence of humanity and the pursuit of bland flawlessness a kind of soul-killing drug, is far more compelling than its story of clichéd teen angst.
50
The actors can't escape the confines of the warmed-over, coming-of-age-in-suburbia script by Mills, from a novel by Walter Kirn.
User score
Mixed or Average
4.3
11% Positive
1 Rating
1 Rating
67% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
22% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Aug 21, 2021
4
A touch too mean spirited and featuring some awful acting, particularly by Keanu Reeves, '****' is a by-the-books coming of age story anguished by a pace that will make snails cry.
Production Company:
- Bob Yari Productions
- This Is That Productions
- Cinema-Go-Go
- Bull's Eye Entertainment
- Good Machine
Release Date:Sep 16, 2005
Duration:1 h 36 m
Rating:R
Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Gijón International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
