Spring Break
Movie Review: Thumbsucker
Jess Lucero
Issue date: 10/27/05 Section: Entertainment
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10/27/05 - Vince Vaughn, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin Bratt and Vincent D'Onofrio all grace the screen of the comedic drama Thumbsucker, documenting the journey of 17-year-old Justin Cobb who can't seem to stop sucking his thumb.
Whenever he feels nervous, we catch him running to the school bathroom tapping his scuffed Converses or off to his room to furtively steal some comforting thumb-sucking action. Slowly his habit becomes a bigger problem as his demanding father does what all demanding fathers do, demanding that he stop.
Justin's new-age dentist Perry Lyman (Reeves) offers a solution after noticing Justin's teeth reverting to their pre-braces stage. He hypnotizes him. In his hypnotized state he tells Justin to "imagine you're deep in the forest. Call on your power animal."
Justin, envisioning a deer reminiscent of Bambi, answers, "Come here."
Lyman retorts, "In your mind. This encounter ends detrimentally as Justin cannot summon his "power animal," and Lyman made his thumb subconsciously taste disgusting. So Justin seems distraught, breaks some things, freaks out in class and is soon diagnosed with ADHD and given Ritalin. Suddenly he is intelligent, and put-together, and everything is going lovely.
However, that would be the end of the movie, so the plot twists and he throws out his Ritalin after a debate opponent compared it to cocaine. Thus begins his downward spiral. Throughout the movie characters offer their tiny input, creating a neat and tidy world revolving around Justin.
Reeves does a decent job as his character, but often slips into his Matrix persona. This may have been the quirky intent, or he could only be able to play one character. Either way he plays it well.
The dashing Vaughn does an amazing job as Mr. Geary, the debate coach. Mixing his drive for the debate team to win and his interest in the students, he seems to be a well-rounded character. He displays some possible love-interests in Justin, but the movie never delves much deeper than surface gestures.
Whenever he feels nervous, we catch him running to the school bathroom tapping his scuffed Converses or off to his room to furtively steal some comforting thumb-sucking action. Slowly his habit becomes a bigger problem as his demanding father does what all demanding fathers do, demanding that he stop.
Justin's new-age dentist Perry Lyman (Reeves) offers a solution after noticing Justin's teeth reverting to their pre-braces stage. He hypnotizes him. In his hypnotized state he tells Justin to "imagine you're deep in the forest. Call on your power animal."
Justin, envisioning a deer reminiscent of Bambi, answers, "Come here."
Lyman retorts, "In your mind. This encounter ends detrimentally as Justin cannot summon his "power animal," and Lyman made his thumb subconsciously taste disgusting. So Justin seems distraught, breaks some things, freaks out in class and is soon diagnosed with ADHD and given Ritalin. Suddenly he is intelligent, and put-together, and everything is going lovely.
However, that would be the end of the movie, so the plot twists and he throws out his Ritalin after a debate opponent compared it to cocaine. Thus begins his downward spiral. Throughout the movie characters offer their tiny input, creating a neat and tidy world revolving around Justin.
Reeves does a decent job as his character, but often slips into his Matrix persona. This may have been the quirky intent, or he could only be able to play one character. Either way he plays it well.
The dashing Vaughn does an amazing job as Mr. Geary, the debate coach. Mixing his drive for the debate team to win and his interest in the students, he seems to be a well-rounded character. He displays some possible love-interests in Justin, but the movie never delves much deeper than surface gestures.
