Quicknation, comprehensive information and links about Thumbsucker

Thumbsucker is a 1999 novel by Walter Kirn. It was adapted into a film by Mike Mills in 2005. The soundtrack was originally to be done by Elliott Smith, but he died unexpectedly before the completion of the soundtrack. The Polyphonic Spree was then chosen to do it when Mills attended one of their shows and was impressed. Three of Smith's songs remain on the soundtrack.

The film is a story of a high school senior named Justin, who has a minor problem of always sucking his thumb. His problem is eventually addressed, early in the movie, and the story continues to show how it was (mostly) corrected, the various people and theories he encounters, and the rest of his senior year before taking off for college.