Claire Danes Movie:

Editorial Review:
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

Igby Goes Down [Region 2] Reviews:
Great flick? Yes - Kieran Culkin and Jeff Goldblum are astounding
2009-06-14 - and then you've got Susan Sarandon, playing Mother Ice Queen to perfection. The movie is something of a treatise on the emptiness of well-moneyed society (it's quite different from the emptiness of poorly-moneyed society). Goldblum moves with an inner light of vicious cunning and leering evil, all done up in Central Park West finery. And Culkin convincingly portrays a badly damaged kid, Igby, for whom failure should be not an option but the only possible outcome. Yet he shows an inner light, small and sometimes flickering fitfully, that could mean of all the lives we see examined in the story, it is Igby's life that does not go down.

Painfully funny and honest
2009-02-28 - Igby Slocumb (Kieran Culkin) is a rebellious seventeen year old who dreams of getting as far away from his crazy family as he can. Haunted by his father Jason (Bill Pullman)'s breakdown when he was little Igby lashes out at his mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon) who is constantly putting her husband down. Mimi dotes on Igby's older brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) who is being molded in her image which causes resentment between him and Igby. Igby is constantly mouthing off which has resulted in his expulsion from numerous schools. His mother, in a last ditch effort to straighten Igby out, enrolls him in a military academy. Ingenious Igby finds a way to misbehave there as well and at the first chance he gets he escapes and hightails it to Manhattan where his rich godfather D.H. (Jeff Goldblum) lives. D.H. offers Igby a job for the summer and Igby meets Rachel (Amanda Peet) who is D.H.'s mistress. She rents a loft from D.H. and Igby asks if he can hide out there. Rachel hesitantly agrees as long as he takes the proper precautions to insure that D.H. will never know about it. Now that Igby is amongst the rich and privileged he attends his first Hamptons party where he meets Sookie (Claire Danes). Igby teases her about her name but Sookie doesn't seem to mind. Something about Igby interests her and the two start hanging out and getting to know each other. Sookie wants to know why Igby is so mad at his family and what he plans on doing with his life. After much playful teasing and Igby's sarcastic answers he opens up to Sookie and tells her that he is scared of being alone and that he wants someone to go with him. The two begin a romance that is very sweet to watch thanks to the brilliant acting of Culkin and Danes. With a spacious loft and a hot girl to take there things are looking up for Igby. Igby's family eventually spoil things for him once again. Rachel o.d.'s at D.H.'s loft and in the process of getting her to the hospital D.H. learns that Igby has been staying there. The next day Oliver pays Igby a visit and informs him that their mother is dying of cancer. While Oliver is in Manhattan he meets Sookie and he tells her what Igby won't about their childhood and their father's illness. Sookie falls for him which gives Igby further reason to hate his brother. All alone and with no place to go Igby has to find the strength in himself to forgive his family and move on with his life. Igby Goes Down is very similar to many a teen film that has come before it most notably the Graduate or Garden State but what makes this film stand apart is its brilliant writing and sensitive portrayals of the characters. The film is full of wicked laughs courtesy of Igby who uses his sarcasm as a shield against others and who can always be counted on for coming up with a funny put down. Balancing out the humor are very emotional and sensitive scenes that deal with the effects that a serious illness has on a family. In the last act of the film Igby pays a visit to both his dying mother and his institutionalized father and the scenes are heartbreaking to watch. Even if a film tells a familiar story it can still be something special if it is done well and Igby Goes Down is proof of that.

Poor Igby
2008-10-08 - 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

meh
2008-08-21 - 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.

A small work of genius
2008-04-30 - One of the most intelligent analyses of upper-middle class life I have ever seen - dark, funny, beautifully scripted, and above all TRUE.