| Everything
about this movie is set up for it to fail: How
much can we sympathize for a 17 year old who sucks
his thumb? How can a movie about a high school
student and his experience in high school be rated
R? (Unless, of course, it's a sex comedy which
then is completely okay.) And can we actually
believe Vince Vaughn as an uptight Debate teacher
and Keanu Reeves as a... dentist? (He's
fantastic, by the bye, and provides a good deal of
the brain of the movie... I never thought I'd say
that.)
But everything does match up.
With the help of other tremendous actors like Tilda
Swinton and Vincent D'Onofrio (who, I'm convinced
could play anything, even a damn smurf,
convincingly), the entire cast melds directly into
the film, even Vaughn managing to curb his own
insanity perfectly to be believable as a school
teacher who's pride is wrapped completely up in his
team's success. The sports coach without the
sports.
And all the other actors are
perfect as well; truly, they are perfect.
Benjamin Bratt, who for some reason I generally
don't like in movies - I don't know why - is
phenomenal in his one main scene and just as
excellent in his TV episodes on in the background.
But his scene with Lou Pucci is fantastic, natural
and real.
One of the key elements of the
movie comes when the school principle (guidance
counselor, teacher, whatever) tells the Cobb family
that their son has a disorder (ADHD, of course) and
then lays out the symptoms. The symptoms,
however, are all symptoms of being a teenager:
Principle: Justin, have you
ever suspected that you were different from other
teenagers? Not as patient? Can't finish
what you started? Terrified of being left
alone but angry when you feel crowded?
Justin: A little.
Principle: It's classic
hyperactive teen.
But what it really is is classic
TEEN. The confusion, the raging hormones, the
desire to be doing something bigger, something
important, but having no f**king idea what it is.
And in here lies the biggest comment for me in the
movie, about how we are treating with drugs that
which is most natural in humans: That desire
that springs up in adolescence to have your
questions answered... the big ones. Imagine if
Riddlin was available forever, we'd have no
philosophers, no scienctists, and certainly no
writers.
A story deeply laden with Oedipal
issues, social issues, drug issues and functioning
family dysfunction, Mike Mills manages to still tell
a deeply engaging story with a center the audience
can still find a hand hold on to relate too.
Within the bizarre and surreal he plants a hearty
seed of the real, of the issues that we all struggle
with, though often in very different ways, or so we
prefer to admit.
Thumbsucker is a terrific movie,
deep in heart, but never forgetting to be funny.
Several scenes, lines of dialogue will make you
laugh out loud before you even realize you're
laughing. And then you'll think about what you
were laughing at, and it won't upset you or make
your ruin your laugh, but rather make you
congratulate yourself for laughing at what might
ordinarily not be funny to you. Which is the
point... the human condition really is kind of
funny. Kind of absurd.
And makes maybe even a little less
sense then sucking your thumb. |
