Do you want to see ‘Thumbsucker’?

Thumbsucker (2005)

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Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 109
Fresh: 77 | Rotten: 32

Though quirky coming-of-age themes are common in indie films, this one boasts a smart script and a great cast.

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 8

Though quirky coming-of-age themes are common in indie films, this one boasts a smart script and a great cast.

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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 56,004

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Movie Info

A high-school senior finds that fate (and modern medicine) plays some interesting tricks with his personality in this dramatic comedy. Justin Conn (Lou Taylor Pucci) is a neurotic teenager who has a difficult time with his peers, especially Rebecca (Kelli Garner), a cute girl in his debate class with whom he is somewhat mutually infatuated. It isn't much better at home with his obnoxious younger brother Joel (Chase Offerle), his father, Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio), who is busy having a midlife

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Directed By: Mike Mills (II)

Written By: Mike Mills (II)

In Theaters: Sep 16, 2005 Wide

On DVD: Jan 24, 2006

Box Office:$1.1M

Sony Pictures Classics

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.

December 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Magazine

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Ken Tucker

New York Magazine

Top Critic

A tender but glib coming-of-age journey.

October 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

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Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

So no one would argue that Thumbsucker sucks. But the thing does seem just so indie-movie familiar.

October 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

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Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

Brave, funny leap into the abyss of adolescence.

September 30, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

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Bruce Westbrook

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

Many films portray teens as Frankenstein monsters bolted together by peer pressure and prescription drugs. "Thumbsucker" bests most of them by avoiding fingers wagged in caution and addressing the opportunity costs of adolescence and adulthood.

October 31, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com

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Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

So unexciting that it almost made me want to suck my thumb or whatever to get over sitting through such a heavy going and dull film.

June 20, 2010 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Everything. Came. Together. Beautifully.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com

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Brandon Fibbs

BrandonFibbs.com

Here, adolescence is a pandemic condition, a metaphor for the endless human struggle to become comfortable in one's own skin, blemishes and all.

August 10, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film

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Anton Bitel

Eye for Film

The result is sensitive, intelligent and deeply affecting.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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David Noh

Film Journal International

Mills delivers here a rather original first feature, even though it follows the steps of other tales of teenage alienation.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal

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Kevin N. Laforest

Montreal Film Journal

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Audience Reviews for Thumbsucker

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Nowhere near as good as Mike Mills' follow up, Beginners, but Thumbsucker definitely plants the seeds of a budding auteur

December 11, 2011

Jonathan Hutchings

Super Reviewer

"You are not alone. You are not afraid. You don't need your thumb, and your thumb doesn't need you."Justin throws himself and everyone around him into chaos when he attempts to break free from his addiction to his thumb. REVIEWThumbsucker is the film that we nearly didn't get to see. First time director Mike

October 29, 2011