MovieChat Forums > Thumbsucker (2005) Discussion > What a terrible, terrible, pretentious m...

What a terrible, terrible, pretentious mess.

posted 18 years ago by mskonicki
122 replies | jump to latest

I remember being at the Chicago Underground film festival where a bloated, 5 oclock shadow, greasy hair, thick black glasses, big shnoz nosed know it all filmmaker wannabe was strutting around with a shirt that said "I "heart" Broken". I was like, what the hell is that? From the preview I was optimistic, and after seeing chumscrubbers (which was cool) I thought I'd give this movie a chance. I'm not in any way artsy-phobic. WHAT A MESS!!! This was the most pretentious movie about nothing. Literally, this was like about nothing. No conflict, maybe some, but not more then the struggle for me to get up out of bed and go to the bathroom in the morning. The pace was slow, and I HATE, HATE quirky movies (you know the type, self concious thinking they're inventively funny but really are nowhere near that.)

With every bloated pretentious film comes a bloated pretentious director. And it's clearly obvious when there are three shorts on the director himself on this DVD.

This director (name not even worth mentioning because he will disappear soon) can join other pretentious directors like Brian Singer, Steven Sodenberg, and Gore Verbinski. Fall into the ocean already Hollywood. FALL NOW!!!

And if that idiot director is reading this....here's some words of advice.

There are those that slave away at specifics and stear away from whats been done to make original work, and there are people like you. Make a quick story and disguise the film from showing how crappy it is with quirky situations. This book this was based on must really really suck.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] purr_miaow 18 years ago

he didn't do a brilliant job.. he would have if he had just taken photographs.. i'd flip through them alot better and quicker than 1 and a half hour.
Such a shame to see good actors completely fail at their jobs because of a pretentious director (?).
Just in the line of the terrible.. terrible 'garden state'..
They want to be indie and make a fool of themselves..
Cannot touch the heels of, for example, a 'lost in translation'.. there's a cool photo album worth being animated and extremely well done.
You wish.. i struggled with my stomach.. would this torture never end??

[–] MandyOne 18 years ago

purr_miaow, i don't understand your post. so many words yet you say nothing. how do you manage?

[–] anthonykilburn 18 years ago

I liked Garden State. I liked Thumbsucker too, as even if it was a somewhat stereotypical 'indie' film, I'll take them over crappy blockbusters anytime. I mean, your opinion is your own, but this movie didn't deserve the savaging you've given it.
"They want to be indie and make a fool of themselves.."
Excuse my ignorance, but what the hell are you talking about?
Lou Pucci seems like he could have a bright future in Hollywood if he can avoid the usual pitfalls. Vince Vaughan was great as the teacher; I loved the bit where he bought the debate team a six-pack, morally justifying it by saying it would be good to help them relax before the big comp.
I work in a video store and I see SO MANY crappy hollywood films come and go that a film like Thumbsucker (or Garden State for that matter) is a relief.
But I guess I'm just a pretentious video store manager, what would I know?
PS A suggestion for you; I know a way to end the torture of a terrible film. It's simple; leave the theater....or press stop on you remote control.
All is swell.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] sjs03 18 years ago

Hey there, I just read your reply to one of the Thumbsucker comments in IMDB and had to write and tell you that I totally agree with you! I love little films like Thumbsucker and The Station Agent, Sling Blade and Garden State. I hardly see any blockbusters anymore, and am always on the lookout for small indie films...
Have a great day and hi from Tasmania! Suzie.

[–] TubaMel 18 years ago

you were doing alright until you praised lost in translation. i'd watch garden state any day over that dreck.

[–] gosundancekid 17 years ago

to TubaMel

"you were doing alright until you praised lost in translation. i'd watch garden state any day over that dreck."

dude, are you serious?

how can you watch GS? what's your secret?

LiT is a decent movie really, not great but enjoyable

andrea

[–] depersonalised 17 years ago

i haven't seen the movie but i have seen garden state and lost in translation

both are good

both are quite similar

but LiT is in japan and GS is in new jersey

new jersey has a lot of freaks

kevin smith, bon jovi, whatshisname from GS

i like kevin smith

bon jovi is debatible (but certainly not good)

zach braff (i think that's his name) is kind of entertaining but not my favorite actor

i think you might just be biased toward bill murray. and i'll say this: bill murray is awesome (and scarlett johansson is hot) i love his acting

have you seen broken flowers?

much the same as LiT and GS

don't say that GS is bad and then say LiT is good

they're the same.

for the most part

LiT is better though

i have no idea what i just said or was trying to say but i'll post this anyway

we can't stop here, this is bat country.

[–] transient-logic 15 years ago

I honestly don't think it was the intention of these film makers to "make fools out of themselves", and I actually resent the idea that movies can only be of worth if they change the screen shot every three seconds just to keep the audience's attention. I mean really, has it come to the point where people who cannot sit down to read the novel on which the movie is based are given precedent when they complain that a movie moves too slowly for them? I should hope not.

And as for the "terrible Garden State", and your higher opinion of Lost in Translation...

Garden State, Thumbsucker, and many other indie movies strive to regain something which the film industry has seemed to have misplaced in the last thirty years: their sense of dignity. Now I'm sorry, but I would rather sit down to a movie that succeeds in imitating real life and probable situations than those mind-numbing films that have desensitized so many to the idea of death and destruction as well as the timeless, not to mention parochial, idea of "Prince Charming" and the idiotic romance films that grace our theaters month after month in order to continue generating revenue for Hollywood and its overpaid actors. Garden State is a gem of a movie that examines the lives of a few people just trying to get by. It is a movie of human existence. Just accept it for the fact that maybe, just maybe, you don't understand everything that goes on in your life as well.

All of these films (even the higher regarded LiT) seek to provide truths about life that people don't normally see. That's pretty much the point of most art; to reveal the previously ignored issues that are attempting to turn our generation into placated, spoiled technology whores who think they deserve everything to be as easy as possible for them.

Sorry for the long post, but I really can't ever make anything that I feel passionate about short. But to sum, I liked this movie.

[–] BoSox04 18 years ago

So... did you like the movie?

[–] peej115 18 years ago

I agree,this movie is about a strange boy with a funny haircut that sucks his thumb.Mind-numbingly tedious and pretentious,this will definately appeal to all you eco-warrior and vegetarians out there!Vince Vaugn what are you doing?From "Swingers" to this pile of poo,shame on you!!Geeky film for true Geeks! 0/10!

[–] fleuette 18 years ago

I didn't think the character was damaged at all. Just a normal teen angst finding themselves thing.

[–] lumipinkandpunk 18 years ago

funny haircut??
lol.
i liked his hair.
and the film.

..the geeky vegetarian..

haha. ive been stereotyped.

[–] Mtib 18 years ago

I Agree. This movie Blows My Nuts off. Stop comparing it to Garden State. They really arent anything alike.

[–] smith_parazitu88 15 years ago

as peej115 said..."Geeky film for true Geeks!" i couldn't laugh not once...and this movie is just stupid and i say this beeing frustrated at myself for the simple fact that i've lost an hour and a half off my free time on this piece of sh!t just hoping that it would get better at least in the end...i wonder how could Vince Vaughn and Keanu Reeves agreed to do something as bad as this...

U bl3w my mind...now bl0w me

[–] carla68-1 18 years ago

i diagree with you highly as well

[–] joshyface 18 years ago

Thumbsucker's not pretentious. you're just an idiot.
your failure at the English language is proof enough of that.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] osearth 18 years ago

@ RaoulDuke71
who cares lame lame lame!
his comment was 333 times more valid then yours.

for anyone that didn't notice he was poking fun because the prior comment used, you're and then your in the same context.. waahh, get over it. one guy didn't like it and one guy did. by the sounds of it i personally will, but i don't think any of us are retarded for having personal opinions. not even you :D

[–] Luke902 18 years ago

This movie was brilliant. Hit every note perfectly.

"We didn't know how to pronounce his name, so we just called him the cat eating alien."
-Domino

[–] jononfire 18 years ago

I agree, Luke902.

"Believe not what you wish to believe, but what in truth you can"

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] al_1978 18 years ago

There are some grammatical errors in joshyface's post, but they have nothing to do with your/you're. The contexts in which he uses them differ significantly. You're is short for "you are". The second means something belonging to you, or exhibited by you; your tardy approach to the English language in the written form. Or my pedantry. Peace, my illiterate brothers and sisters.

[–] uniqualist_me 18 years ago

Haha, in no way is this film pretentious.

[–] paulwind 18 years ago

you think brYan singer is pretentious? man, you need a job.

[–] Brad986 18 years ago

Yeah, I agree with mskonicki. This movie was so...boring.

Seriously, they're trying to drag meaning out of stuff that is really very normal and common. The ADHD, the drug use, the weird teen sexuality. It's a coming of age story in it's truest sense. But *beep* we all come to age so who cares? Just because you follow the Garden State formula of "art cinema" and get some Arcade Fire ripoff to do the soundtrack doesn't mean that it's important. This movie doesn't deal with any important themes in a coherent or conclusional mannor, doesn't have any relevance to someone who isn't middle class and white, and is utterly dull to many middle class white people.

What did like...Urban Outfitters want to make their *beep* t-shirts into a movie?

[–] chemicalchemical-1 18 years ago

A. What's wrong with dragging meaning out of commonplace things? Anyone who tries to use art to capture reality in an interesting way is always criticized at first, and then recognized later (Joyce, Faulkner, Picasso).

B. This movie was nothing like Garden State. Garden State was predictable, unfunny, cluttered, and overly linear. Thumbsucker really wasn't any of those things.

C. Anyone with two ears can tell you that the Polyphonic Spree sounds nothing like the Arcade Fire, and has been around well longer.

D. Basically all the themes are effectively dealt with, though perhaps not obviously enough for viewers who'd rather not have to think about it.

[–] UncleBobMartin 18 years ago

My only problem with the movie is the BS levels reached in the resolution.

Imagine the film's name was Bedwetter rather than Thumbsucker. Then try rewriting the final scenes to accomodate the change.

See my point?

[–] the-kreep 18 years ago

Maybe that's why it was written as Thumbsucker?

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] UncleBobMartin 18 years ago

The bedwetter is recreating the warmth and security of amniotic fluid. The common thread is infantilism and social ostracism.

[–] wsheit 18 years ago

The Polyphonic Spree is awesome. I don't know why so many people seem to want to knock them down. Maybe because they're just too happy.

[–] vaseline_on_toast-1 18 years ago

This film was nothing like Garden State which just tried way too hard. I personally really liked Thumbsucker. Some people have said that it's not realistic yet the book was based on someones real life except in the book its set over a longer period of time (but you didnt read the book did you? hm.) It's meant to be about everyone always looking to be who they are and by doing that they loose themselves. Well, thats my impression. No not every 17 year old would react that way. But who would expect them to? Lou Pucci was perfect for the role of Justin though Keanu Reeves did seem a little misplaced to me...Either way i really like the film

Oh no...i'm not sure i can....have you seen what the director looks like? ha. Get over that for starters.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] bertishere22534 18 years ago

O sweet dear. you has a human being have disgusted me in sucha way i would like to see you do better. First off, his name is mike mills, secondly, do not insert you pety little comment and waste your precious time of which looks like the only thing you have in that aarogant mind and stop bashing films you did not enjoy. you are not trying to discuss this film but briefly give it as 'bad' and walk away. i live like what??? god knows how many miles.. maybe next door, maybe across the country and guess what?? i could care LESS how you thought of this movie and so can the rest of the people in here who are coming to talk about it, if you honesltly have a reason to absolutly 'hate' it give it to us because all ive heard so far is BS excuses. it was not a mess you just need to learn how things work togeather and stop taking things so literally. EVERYthing you said in your comment was so ignorant. you guess about the director, book and the movie of which you have seen and you STILL seem like a total idiot. i respect your opinion but you should learn the difference between opinions and ignorant words.
grow up ass hole.
stop wasting your time on *beep* you did not enjoy.

[–] mindybeyke 18 years ago

hello. i am a fourteen year old girl (that is both an excuse for lack of knowledge and proof that i sorta-kinda know what Justin is going through). i watched this movie last night with my mother and older sister, and i LOVED IT. i thought it really explained the trouble that teenagers go through, but in a new and unusual way. i have a very short attention span when it comes to movies, and this is the first movie in a long time that i did not wait for it to end. i loved the music, the acting, the camera angles, everything. in fact, im going out to read the book right now.
i think that mskiniki needs to actually sit down and think about what she writes before she rights it. i have no problems with her hating the movie; everyone is entitled to their opinion (even if it's wrong). but to go on and knock other directors, the book (which she has never read) and everything else with no explanation? that's just immature and unneccessary. i don't know about you people, but i go on this site to discuss movies and actors in a CIVILIZED, ADULT WAY. not to act like children prattling and insulting each other. which brings me to my final point.
is it really neccessary to call each other names? come on people, that is pathetic. (and here i acknowledge my hipocrasy by calling you pathetic)

[–] 18 years ago

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