Saw Thumbsucker last night. It was filmed in Beaverton, OR and has lots of nice Oregon touches, like all the beer is from Widmer. I liked the movie, but found it almost equally amusing and depressing. The characters are well developed which makes the humor more natural. It is worth watching the movie just to see Keanu Reeve's character change, as he tries to find a persona that fits his needs. I thought Vince Vaughan was ok, but maybe I just wanted more dirty Wedding Crashers jokes. The parents are great and made me think about my own approaches to parenting.
On the depressing side, there is not one really functional relationship in the entire movie. At one point it seems like there might be a chance of one, but then that fizzles too. The people are highly atomized in this sense. It's not clear that any of the characters understand what motivates any of the others. Since it is set in suburbia, you could take that as a critique of suburbia, but if so it is a muted one. Even on something controversial like Ritalin, it doesn't take an strong stand. So many movies take the didactic route. It is nice to have ones that let you make up your own mind.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Please don't let me be misunderstood
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree wholeheartedly - good write-up on the movie. And special props to the young actor playing the little brother who is hilarious - I'm continually impressed at how natural and real young kids can be in films given the artificiality of the filmmaking process.
Post a Comment