Customer Reviews

Igby Goes Down (Widescreen)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

"Igby Goes Down" is one of the most intelligent and inventive films in recent years and certainly a surprising accomplishment for the typically formulaic American movie industry. As a dark comedy and a social commentary, the genius behind this film ranks it with other notables such as "Magnolia", "Rushmore", "American Beauty", and "Y Tu Mama Tambien". While Igby features an all-star cast including Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillipe, Bill Pullman, and Susan Sarandon, their celebrity personae are thankfully overshadowed by the quality of the story and its characters. In subsequent interviews that are available on the DVD, many of the actors stated that they were so impressed with the screenplay (written by director Burr Steers) that they were willing to work in a low budget film for a fraction of their normally astronomical wages. As a result, the viewer is rewarded with a kind of performance integrity that is hard to find in normal Hollywood films. The actors really want to act, not simply to be their public selves on screen.

The story begins with two brothers, Oliver (Phillippe), and Igby (Culkin) Slocum suffocating their mother, Mimi (Sarandon) to death. It then backtracks to show us the tortured world of the Slocum family and the strange but radically different paths with which the brothers respond to it. Mimi Slocum is a despotic and dysfunctional mother who is prone to violent fits while her husband Jason (Pullman) is a schizophrenic. From an early age, Oliver internalizes whatever pain and anger he feels toward his family situation and becomes a highly accomplished student, dutiful family member, and a faithful employee. In fact, Oliver evolves into such an intense conformist that the only thing that makes him likable is the sense that on some level his life is a sick parody of itself even if he doesn't fully realize it.

Not so for Igby who contrasts Oliver's stellar behavior by becoming the family's problem child. Kicked out of one private school after another and finally "on the lam" as he puts it, Igby plunges into a series of increasingly outrageous situations and delivers some of the wittiest lines of the film. Brilliant, vulnerable, chaotic, and self-destructive, Igby is hardly self-deluded and is certainly no weakling. The fact that Igby is fully aware of who and what he is prevents even the most tragic and difficult parts of this film from being manipulative. Igby never allows himself to hide behind pity, sentimentality or false bravado, and as a result, he prevents the audience from doing this as well. We're stuck with Igby on his crazy ride and we're forced to view the world with his wit and honesty.

Much of the communication in this film is handled with a subtlety that is almost fragile. While Mimi remains a poisonous matriarch from start to finish, she displays incredible moments of humanity with little more than a slight change of expression. Where one might think that with all of his condescension and indifference, Oliver must really hate Igby, this is hardly the case. There is tenderness there, but Oliver has managed to bury it beneath his well-crafted layers of conformity, that he's not about to dismantle as part of some idiotic emotional denouement. And even Igby's suave and sometimes brutal god father D.H. is not as simple as he seems.

For a film of ideas, sarcasm, and gut-wrenching emotion, "Igby Goes Down" is an amazingly smooth experience that can be enjoyed on several levels. I loved this film for its intelligence, its uniqueness, its thought provoking concepts and the wonderful quality of acting.

This unconventional film about a teenage boy struggling to escape the crushing pressures in his life defies categorization. While one could describe it as a dark comedy, it is funny only in places, and then in a desperate, cynical way. But it doesn't take itself as seriously as a true drama. "Igby Goes Down" works best as a film that is what it is: the story of Igby (Kieran Culkin), who has been kicked out of every private school his mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon) has enrolled him in and who goes on the lam to avoid the next one. Igby's father (Bill Pullman) has been in a mental hospital for the past six years, and his mother is a snooty matron dying of breast cancer who spends her time fiercely trying to get Igby into yet another school. His brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) is a snobbish self-important Columbia undergrad. Igby's life is truly messed up, and no one can stand to be in his company for long before they feel like hitting him. The one thing Igby has going for him is an often charming wit, and that, combined with so many things beyond his control, endears him to the viewer.

Culkin shows surprising range as Igby, moving convincingly from sarcastic to resourceful to desperate - and back again to sarcastic. Claires Danes is spunky and perfectly edgy as the Bennington drop-out Sookie, and Amanda Peet is even better as the sensual non-dancer dancer and junkie Rachel. Jeff Goldblum turns in a fine performance as DH, Igby's godfather, who, as Oliver says, is finely-tuned for only one thing: making money. Susan Sarandon seems to float through this movie until the end, when she, too, reveals astonishing aspects of her character. Every last character is this film is quirky.

This is an offbeat, unpredictable film that mainstream film goers probably won't like as much as those who gravitate toward the unconventional. Rather than being driven by plot, this is a character movie, with its strength resting in idiosyncrasies, smart dialogue, and acting.

If you enjoy narratives like American Beauty or Catcher in the Rye, you must watch this under-rated dramedy. Sufficiently quaint characters, a murky and disturbing story that manages to hold up because of its laconic wit, and a brilliant cast all round.

Culkin does fairly well in his role as a precocious kid who school-hops more often than he change his clothes, hates his quirky family (mother, father, brother all roles played by A-list stars), and eventually goes on the lam.

On the run in the big city, he meets up with various eccentrics: he finds refuge with his godfather's trophy girlfriend, a heroin addict played by Amanda Peet and her arty, bizarre friends. When this relationship sours he finds better solace with Sookie Saperstein (Claire Danes), a bored, ironic college student temporarily on the run from college.

It may be flawed and occasionally embittering. It may be (intentionally) artsy and ultimately obscure. But this stunning debut is an absolutely watchable treat that I'd recommend in a blink if you care about cinema that evokes thought.

I cant believe how closely this resembled my high school life going to a new england prep school-the same angst..the weight that Igby talks about...the end of innocence. I thought that the main actor was incredible in this part. Beautiful and gawky with the right amount of smart ass and broken little boy. This movie combines this sad wistful spirit with an amazing sarcastic humor. The Characters are wonderful, the story is amazing, the setting (NYC) is perfect and the soundtrack is perfect. This movie reminds me of a beautiful Japanese poem; wistful, deep, entertaining and an experience to dwell on and repeat.

There could have been a great movie here, maybe even two great movies, but there's too much on the plate. The obvious comparison would be with "Catcher in the Rye" but the action in that is compressed into a short period of time, whereas "Igby" has enough backstory and sequel story to fill a mini-series, much less an hour and a half movie! The film is truly exhilarating from the moment Igby jumps out of the limo to escape prep school to the moment he catches his Godfather with his pants down -- I would have liked to have seen the movie concentrate those months and not try so hard to paint a larger canvas. The filmmaker/writer can't resist a clever line or poignant situation until the whole thing collapses in melodrama. It's even untrue to the "black comedy" it attempts, backing away from the provocative first scene to make it almost sentimental and giving Igby a very mechanistic explanation for being so difficult. The middle section deserves to be amplified and I think there's also a good movie about a disfunctional family with a schizophrenic dad and an uptight mom in here but this isn't it!

The kind of name a person named Sookie should not be asking about. In high school we have all read The Catcher in the Rye and we all for some odd reason really liked it well Igby Goes Down is sort of a modern version of Catcher in the Rye except with a few little differences. The story is that this boy named Igby (Kieron Culkin) has two very weird and not very good parents and to make matters worse currently he is in milatary school so he decides to escape and go live with this girl (Amanda Peet). While he is there he meet Sookie (Claire Danes) and thinks that he is falling in love. But during the entire story his life is falling down but can it be rebuilt. I would recommend this movie to people who are 14 and older because there is some suggestive dialouge and language and although it is R rated all of my friends and I saw it when we were 14. I hope that this review has been helpful to you in making a decision about the movie Igby Goes Down.

Did I get the wrong video somehow? One of the best things about this movie (in the theatre) was the haunting refrain that you could also hear on the Igby Goes Down website. It's been a while since I saw the movie in the theatre but I couldn't have remembered it *this* incorrectly. Specifically, the music that helped make all of the scenes multi-layered and somewhat sad has apparently been replaced with the score from "The Parent Trap" -- you know, that kind of "screwball comedy" background music. Um, huh?

It seems to me that maybe even some scenes have been spliced together differently -- was the beginning really like that in the theatre? Maybe I'm wrong there. But the goofy music...

If anyone can solve this mystery for me, please do. I'm considering sending this tape back to Amazon for my money back.

The sometimes stellar acting cannot save this film from itself. I went in expecting something great, especially from all the hype that enveloped this movie during it's theatrical release. I was treated instead to a bland and pointless Catcher in the Rye rip-off that goes nowhere.
The movie strives to be great, and I kept expecting it to do something--anything--but fall flat. The worst part is that this should have been good; I wanted it to be a good film, as there's a real lack of stories of this nature. The only saving grace was the performance of Jeff Goldblum, and a few snatches of nice dialogue that are wasted on the end result. In contrast to other reviews, I didn't find Culkin's performance especially notable, either.
If you're looking for a story with a similar underlying theme, I suggest reading Salinger's novel.

When Igby Goes Down hit theatres last year it disappeared despite its stellar cast and positive reviews. It's not really a movie to everyone's taste that's true, but this slice of Catcher In The Rye-type teenage angst is never short of compelling. The story has Igby (Culkin) being kicked out of every school his mother Mimi (Sarandon) places him in, eventually dropping out to experience the boredom, despair and decadence of those around him.

The acting is pitch perfect. Kieran Culkin makes you honestly believe that he was born to play a role like this, a young man desperate to never conform, terrified that any passion in him will be crushed in the same way his father's (Pullman) spirit was obliterated, eventually landing him in an institution. Sarandon, as ever, lends the proceedings some class as the rich snobby mother who cares not one jot for her family. Goldblum plays the confident man surprisingly well considering his past affinity at playing the nervous type in movies such as The Fly. Ryan Phillipe impresses again in a role in which he's dangerously close to being typecast in - the upper-class snob. His roles in Gosford Park and Cruel Intentions were great, and it's clear here that he should stick to fare such as this rather than trash like Antitrust. I'd never seen Amanda Peet in anything before this but she plays her drug-addled character (really a symbol of the very depths of despair, something Igby wishes to experience but doesn't want to overrule him) so well that it can't belong before she becomes a bigger star. Clare Danes seems to gradually be clawing a comeback with small roles like this and in The Hours. She's perfect for the role and, importantly, we can see why Igby would be attracted to her charatcer. A wannabe Bohemian rebel with a quirky personality, she's great value. It's a cult cast really, filled with actors from cult movies such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Fly and up-and-comers like Culkin and Danes. Unfortunartely, despite its many qualities, it's doubtful that Igby will ever make it to cult status. Released too soon over the admitedly far superious Donnie Darko, it's a little bit swamped by its presence as a movie that gained cult status in under a year and it's unlikely that Culkin will have the success that the Gyllenhaal siblings experienced in The Good Girl and Secretary respectively. However, this is a real gem of a movie that deserves to be viewed and appreciated on its own merits and as such, it's really quite impressive.

Jason "Igby" Slocumb, jr., a 17-year old misfit with a sense of irony, is struggling with his emotionally aloof family where his father has been institutionalized, his mother is a pill-popping self-centered person, and his brother is a cutthroat Republican. After Igby's several rebellious achievements he has been expelled from most Prep Schools on the East Coast and is finally sent to a military academy in order to be "dealt" with. However, Igby escapes this too by dropping out of school and he dodges his uncaring family by setting up a bohemian life style through which he meets several characters that become his new existential foundation. Igby Goes Down is a dark, witty, and intelligent film about Igby and his escapades as he is coming of age and struggles with emotional neglect. As the story unfolds walls are shattered which leaves the audience to analyze Igby's experiences as they appear, and in the end the audience is left dwelling.