Lou Taylor Pucci won Best Actor at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival for his role as 17-year-old thumbsucker Justin Cobb. He wants to stop, but when he does he finds his troubles are just beginning. His former football player father (Vincent D' Onofrio) is himself shadowed by his youth, while his mom (Tilda Swinton), like Justin, is struggling to find out who she is. She hides from these realities through an obsession with a TV heartthrob (Benjamin Bratt) who turns out to be anything but perfect. Meantime Justin turns for help to his New Age orthodontist (Keanu Reeves), his head-case school debate coach (Vince Vaughn), and his girlfriend (Kelli Garner), who masks her insecurities about sex and relationships behind a cool demeanor. Justin's "thumb substitutes" eventually include manic behavior, ADHD, Ritalin, pot and sex.