Any director that casts Keanu Reaves in a role, no matter how small, obviously likes a challenge. For a guy that can’t even play bass guitar properly, with an incredibly wooden demeanour, he didn’t do too badly. Thankfully he only had about 5 scenes in the whole movie and actually pulled some big laughs. In cause you haven’t noticed, I think Keanu is the urine cake of the Hollywood porcelain bowl. Frankly this movie is a bit slow in bits and kind of lulls in you into the plot, like it’s a normal drama, then suddenly a piss funny joke comes out of nowhere like a deer in headlights. There are some completely left of field hilarious jokes in here worth the price of admission alone!

Thumbsucker basically is about a 17 year old bloke that can’t stop sucking his thumb. He blames everything wrong with his life on his thumb sucking, you know, why he can’t get a girlfriend or apply himself at school. He tries everything to quit, especially to appease his interfering sports jock father. Nothing seems to work. Enter Keanu the kid’s ‘cool hippie orthodontist’. He tries new age ways to get him to quit while checking his teeth. Somehow the new age treatment is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And through a high school intervention, our kid’s diagnosed with ADD and suggested a course of drugs. He’s now on an amphetamine driven path to success and miraculously stops sucking his thumb. But all the same, ending up with a far worse habiat.

What Thumbsucker is really about is making mistakes as a teenager; parental and high school pressure taking its toll on the individual to the point where they think one small habiat can change their whole lives. Our main character Justin demonstrates that our high schools are too pragmatic in their diagnosis and parents too self absorbed in their own life to be skeptical of the schools. Or for that matter just let kids be themselves with no pressure. The pressure put on Justin the thumbsucker ends up in substance addiction. It’s a junkie of a different kind that puts him on the right path and he’s left ultimately to himself to decide what’s right for him. He explores legal and illegal drugs, the academic and stoner side of high school life, good mates and academic sparring partners.

Ultimately the decision for the rest of his life is his. Whether to exploit his ritalin fueled success or life with indifference. Because after all it’s not his fault his parents and school are so intollerant of kids being kids. There are some stellar performance by Vince Vaughan as the plaid high school debate club teacher. Keanu equally out of character and funny. Without being a spoiler, there is one utterly audacious and unbelievable scene that makes the whole movie.

Not a Napoleon Dynamite but pretty good. Check it out if you’ve ever been a confused teenager. 4 out of 5 stars.