Benefits from a goofy yet incisive sense of humor and some extremely strong performances.
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
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.
Pucci is an actor to watch: He rides this spellbinder without softening the truths that plague the thumbsucker in all of us.
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Thumbsucker is true to its nature, and that makes Justin's eventual transformation all the more rewarding.
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
PremiereGlenn Kenny
The movie has a lot of good bits and terrific performances, including a too-perfect Keanu Reeves as a mystic orthodontist.
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Thumbsucker is a head-scratcher. It's well directed and acted. Yet the story has little emotional pull.
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
VarietyDennis Harvey
Thumbsucker (like "Donnie Darko") is more likely to prosper in the long haul as a home-format cult fave than in its initial arthouse tour. Both offer eccentric humor within a fairly somber overall tone, support-cast surprises, and (to a lesser degree in Thumbsucker) fable-like, hyperreal elements.