Igby Goes Down | Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes

Igby Goes Down | Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes | A small work of genius

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Igby Goes Down

	Igby Goes Down Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes MGM (Video & DVD), 2003 average customer review:based on 127 reviews view larger image
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Many movies strive to capture the confused, yearning spirit of The Graduate or The Catcher in the Rye; Igby Goes Down succeeds. Igby (Kieran Culkin) is a teen struggling to find any purpose or meaning to his life; surrounding him are his tyrant mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon), schizophrenic father Jason (Bill Pullman), wealthy and deceitful godfather D.H. (Jeff Goldblum), and cold brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe)--all of whom have their own problems. While evading being sent to yet another boarding school, Igby seeks solace with two women: Rachel (Amanda Peet), a drug-addicted dancer who's D.H.'s mistress, and Sookie (Claire Danes), a college student who becomes perhaps his only friend. Culkin carries the film, ably supported by the superb cast; script, direction, and performances are razor sharp. Igby Goes Down doesn't let anyone--including Igby--off the hook for their cruelty, hypocrisy, or lack of empathy. --Bret Fetzer

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One of my favs.

I love this movie. I had it stolen and had to purchase it again because I was sad without it.

A small work of genius

One of the most intelligent analyses of upper-middle class life I have ever seen - dark, funny, beautifully scripted, and above all TRUE.

Smart and funny

If this movie was not made as a dark comedy, it would definitely be a great film noir. Story about the upper class New York family full of its own skeletons in the closet. This disfynctional family consists of pill popping mom, schizophrenic father, opportunistic older brother and idealist main character Igby (his nickname that everyone seems to love) having difficult time to fit in. It is a story of absurd life and party of the rich New York crowd where money cannot buy happiness but it surely makes life so much easier. Middle aged man have enough to cover for the regular wife, ex-lover's child's private school, current kept woman's appartment and well being -- and run a successful business on top of it all. Women are shared and passed on between friends and lovers, and when they are not, they happily seek out men they can sleep with - if for no other reason then for the reason that they can because they are so hot. But of course, being that they are women and financially dependant, such escapades always have unhappy ending for all involved, particularly women themselves. Made in the style of "Royal Tannenbaum's" this is fun movie in a dark kind of way.

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meh

This movie starts out good till about 1/2 way through when you stop believing it. All the actors are cast in roles that they always seem to play. I don't know, its good but really 1/2 way through it starts to suck, sound track in all. But its got an interesting plot. I'd rent this film first maybe, see if you like it.

Poor Igby

Looking back, it seems American indie filmmakers in the late 90's, early millenial were just crawling over each other to find a way of representing the more dysfunctional family. Igby Goes Down is a good movie, and has its exceptional moments, but time is already starting to drag on this one.

Igby is rich, he keeps getting kicked out of school, his father is insane, he hates his mother, his brother is a "Young Republican", his Godfather is Jeff Goldblum, and he just is feeling so darned existential all the time. He runs around New York being phony (hence the thousands of people comparing him to Holden Caulfield), attends parties in which he feels alienated (hence the thousands of people comparing him to Ben Braddock), and purposefully attempts to make things awkward to get the attention of his mother (hence my comparing him to Harold Chasen). He's also a teenager's wish fulfillment fantasy as he manages to sleep with hot women who are either not concerned with having a relationship or pleasantly reject him so that he can feel more alienated, run around New York being gloomy and hep, and, well, get his parents out of the way from time to time.

Hey, I'm not complaining: all of that is good justification for watching this movie. However, not all of it was all that great. One of the things that kind of ruined it for me was the character Sookie's relationship with Igby and his brother. Now, I'm sorry, but who starts relationships with two brothers based entirely on their bemoaning hatred of their mother? Really, who does that? "Oh, give me more of that angry childhood trauma, baby, you talk so sexy..."

Nonetheless, most of the beginning is funny, the scene that bookmarks the movie is really cool, and its episodic structure helps it keep moving (this movie is kind of like the weather: if you don't like the scene, it will probably soon change).

Anyway, cute film.

--PolarisDiB

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