Idle thumbs

"Thumbsucker"
(2005)

We temporarily leave the realm of shaggy beasts, post-apocalyptic ninjas and hot lesbian physicists for an "indie" drama about how tough it is to be a white middle-class American teenager. I'd heard a lot of good things about "Thumbsucker" when it came out, but upon finally seeing it I had mixed feelings, which I'm sure will be evident in my description. The center of the story is a lanky kid named Justin (Lou Pucci) who is near the end of high school but, as the title suggests, never stopped sucking his thumb. It doesn't seem to cause stress for anyone but his dad, but his quirky new age orthodontist hypnotizes him with the suggestion he stop. It appears that Justin exists in a sort of vacuum - his parents aren't much for guidance, his brother's a sassy little jerk and he has no friends to speak of except for a teen queen dream who he's hot for but who naturally just wants to be friends. Once he stops sucking his thumb, he is also put on Ritalin, which turns him from a socially uncomfortable dweeb to a domineering debate team champion. Justin learns about being focused, the joys of drugs, the randomness of life, the cruelty of unrequited romance, the ravages of age and the problem with taking advice from quirky new age orthodontists. Finally, he goes off to college, inadvertantly sucking his thumb while on the plane and in the process amusing a girl sitting next to him, and everyone he met during the movie watches him doing a college newscast. It's okay to be a misfit! Hooray for Justin!

I realize that the point of movies like this one isn't to wow you with plot twists or amazing mise en scène. It's a "slice of life," complete with a sense of drifting tedium to evoke normal daily routines. Such pictures handily have a defense against criticism built into them - when it becomes slow and aimless or conversely succumbs to quick and confusing events, it is doing so to mirror the strange rhythms of life. I can see that to a point, and while I was initially annoyed by the wide-eyed and precocious lead teen, I was kind of rooting for Justin by the end. But I never felt truly involved, as the entire movie seemed as detached and "Afterschool Special"-ish as the first half of "Garden State." The indie pop soundtrack (songs by The Polyphonic Spree and Elliott Smith) is pleasant, yet exactly the kind of thing you expect to accompany slow-motion shots of a white kid trying to make sense of it all on a sun-dappled suburban afternoon. I don't care if it was originally optioned for peanuts... with the participation of well-known recording artists, distribution by a major studio and cast members including Vincent D'Onofrio (the dad), Vince Vaughn (the debate coach) and Keanu Reeves (the orthodontist), I don't know how movies like this still have the balls to call themselves "indie." Nobody's bad - even Reeves, who's supposed to be spacy here - and the ever-rad Tilda Swinton even stands out a bit as Justin's mom, but the whole thing is so typically non-flashy, unassuming and average that it manages to make its most "natural" sequences seem contrived. "Thumbsucker" has its moments, but in the end offers little insight into much. The trailer: