Rating: 
Summary: This movie is so great, I bought the poster!
Review: When I went to the theaters to see this movie, it was because I had heard the Kieran Culkin was the star and I had just seen him in "The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys," (Also a great movie). This movie was sharp and witty, as well as having a darker side. Kieran Culkin portrayed the part so well, (and lets face it, he didn't look bad either) I can't wait to see him in his next movie whenever that will be. The movie was definately a combo of The Graduate and Catcher in The Rye. It was also similar to the Royal Tennenbaums, but in my own opinion it was much better!
Rating:
Summary: I can't wait for you to see this movie too!
Review: It was GREAT! It was better than ever expected, and to own it on DVD is going to be a dream come true. Kieran is the next River Phoenix (except with more wit and sarcasm) he is something to watch - a rising star!
This movie has some great performances also by Goldblum and Sarandon - not to be missed, a collector's item for sure in my DVD collection...
Rating: 
Summary: good
Review: i thought this was a good movie. kirean culkin does a great job. it was defineitly isnpired by rhe catcher in the rye. however since the saligner put a ban on anyof his books being turne in movies they nmade this homage to it.You really care for igby in a lesser movie your would want to tell him to grow up.i hope they rember kirean at oscar time.
Rating:
Summary: IGBY GOES DOWN FOR THE COUNT
Review: This movie was rolling along with irreverent comedic grace until it threw its playing cards in the air leaving Igby, the privileged, juvenile anti-hero, left to confidently fend for himself in a world that will surely eat him alive. Going down I suppose. In an attempt to fuse some moral substance into this misguided teen, the pat climax concerning a death bed emotional outbreak seemed forced upon the script and cruel. Too bad the movie weakens because I liked the drug addicted, money-grubbing Igby but are we to undertand his freedom and redemption is won only through the circumstances of the morbid death scene and a character whimpering in a mental institution? Kieran Culkin is amazing in the title role bringing believability to a character possessing a lashing intellectual wit who apparently never read a book in his life. Unfortunately Ryan Phillippe couldn't have been any less interesting as his preppie older brother and Claire Danes as a love interest seemed bursting at the seam with something just verging on acting ability. I guess you have to be really fond of Igby, I mean really fond, to see his character emerge as anything but a future fatality.
Rating: 
Summary: great cast in a great script
Review: Igby (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) open the film by putting a plastic bag over their sleeping mother's head (Susan Sarandon.) From there the film explains the brothers' upbringing -- their childhood with a severely depressed father (Bill Paxton), overbearing mother, sleazy debonair godfather (Jeff Goldblum. The movie also moves to present day when Igby meets older woman Suki (Clair Danes) as well as his married godfather's mistress (Amanda Peet) after a brief bout at military school. There are torrid ill-fated liaisons with both women as Igby figures out what he's doing in this world and how and with whom he should go about it. All of these subtle and life-changing situations culminate back to the bedroom to explain exactly what is behind the plastic bag on their mother's head. It is cleverly done, although at times there seems to be too many characters. Peet's haracter didn't seem all that necessary to the storyline, just to illustrate what a sleaze his godfather was then do drugs ad nauseum.
Rating: 
Summary: a truly awful film
Review: Once I heard those first few quirky notes in the first scene of "Igby Goes Down",I knew I was in for a long,painful ride.Basically,"Igby" is a cliche-ed Hollywood film poorly disguised as an independent film.The acting is poor (especially Sarandon).The writing is even worse.The script is so bad,that it relies on the soundtrack in order to set mood-sort of like a bad children's film or romantic comedy.The film is so awful,that it tainted my memories of "The Catcher in the Rye"!The only good thing about it was that it proved a long discussed theory-the rich have it so good that they have to invent problems in order to prevent dying from boredom.
Besides,I know a movie can't be too thought-provoking if it has either a)Bill Pullman in it or b) Coldplay in the soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: The movie started out as the two boys putting a plastic bag over their mother's head as she laid sleeping. Then it went back and forth between the childhood of Igby and his present life. Igby was born to a well-to-do family. However, the father, the head of the household was schizophrenic and later put into an institution. Igby's nonchalant and rebellious behavior was a result of his mother failing to help him cope with mental illness. Instead she sent to various schools which he got kicked out of and finally, was sent to a military school to straighten out his behavior which didn't do any good.
Not only does the movie deal with Igby's erratic behavior, but also the characters in the movie as well. We meet Igby's married godfather (Jeff Goldblum) whose mistress (Amanda Peet), destroys herself with drugs; Igby's uptight and reserved brother (Ryan Philippe) who breaks down over a glass of vodka with Suki, played by Clare Danes(who Igby is in love with) and later sleeps with her. And of course, Igby's parents played by Susan Sarandon and Bill Paxton.
I apologize for not remembering the names of the characters played by the actors.
This was a good movie to watch.
Rating:
Summary: I walked out
Review: There is rule in formal debate, that is a basic element of storytelling: no new information in the conclusion. Another rule is "show me, don't tell me." This movie is the antithesis of these rules. All I hear from the dialogue is new information. It did not build any suspense because I either knew what they were going to tell me or I didn't care. Not to mention it left a lot out. Why would Rachel (Amanda Peet) suddenly assault Igby, pin him down to the bed and have her way with him? Those crazy artists and their heroin. Why would Sookie (Claire Danes) sleep with Oliver (Ryan Phillipe) at all, other than he is her own age? Why would D.H. (Jeff Goldblum) beat the daylights out of Igby for reporting Rachel's OD? We are told that he was just doing business. That is the crux that this movie revolves around: we are told that this is so. ... Maybe something happened at the end of the movie that explained why the movie was all talk, no action and absolutely no plot, but I doubt it. They should have done "Catcher In the Rye" with the same actors, save one. Amanda Peet should be banned from movies for eternity. What kind of hold does she have on the industry? ... They should sick the Homeland Security after her and lock her up with John Walker Lindhm,...stop censorship...and free Mumia.
Rating: 
Summary: Tediously hip black comedy
Review: This is the sort of art house film that distinguishes itself by being more self consciously hip, cynical and caustic than any mainstream Hollywood film would dare to be. If this impresses you, you will think Igby Goes Down is one of the most brilliant movies of recent years. If, however, you demand plausible characters and story lines in your movies, you might be disappointed, as I was. I suppose Kieran Culkin gives a good performance in portraying the precociously world weary Igby. Susan Sarandon, likewise, ably plays Igby's detestable socialite mother. Igby has a smugly suave older brother who is almost more unlikable than Igby himself; Igby's father has had a psychotic breakdown. The fact that virtually all of the characters in this film are unsympathetic is not necessarily a flaw. However, I found their interactions lacking in any substantial qualities, including humor. Again, if you find it intrinsically funny to watch characters constantly one-up each other with high brow, sarcastic put-downs, then Igy will have you rolling on the floor. I found these exchanges rather tedious after the first fifteen minutes. Igby Goes Down portrays a New York City only experienced by the wealthy. Despite the fact that Igby is supposed to be roughing it (he's run away from military school) in a downtown artist's loft, he doesn't appear to ever inhabit the real city. There is a spaciousness to all the scenes that is very rarely felt in the real Manhattan. For example,when Igby is with a new girlfriend in Central Park, they seem to have the whole park to themselves. Other scenes show characters on rooftops looking down at the city. This would not be bad if the point was to portray upper class life, but it works against the film's pseudo-bohemian spirit. Despite all his supposed angst, Igby always seems like a sheltered rich kid. The central problem I had with Igby Goes Down is that it is ultimately more about Igby's ascerbic wisecracks than about the pain we are supposed to believe his persona covers.
Rating:
Summary: Can you come out and play, Igby?
Review: Igby Slocum (Kieran Culkin) is a smart-mouthed, obnoxious, spoiled brat rich kid whose only saving grace is his intelligence and his, what I'll call, negative charm and good looks. He hates his over-bearing mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon) and brother Ollie (Ryan Phillipe) but seems to genuinely love his mental hospital patient father (Bill Pullman) mostly I think because his dad is a lost soul unable to cope with his life, however privileged it is. Dad ultimately lands in a mental institution when he irrevocably breaks with reality in a brilliant, harrowing scene witnessed by Igby as a small child.
In many ways, Igby is also a lost soul and he obviously recognizes his father in himself when he says, and I'm paraphrasing here: 'I'm just waiting to go crazy, also.'
Burr Steers the director of 'Igby' had a tough road to hoe as it were, in developing this story in that his 'hero' has to be ultimately sympathetic if we are going to care at all about him or the movie he's in. Steers is not remaking 'Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer' after all, even though so much about Igby and his behavior is negative, bratty stuff.
So, what makes Igby run? Some of this back-story is cleverly and swiftly revealed during the film's title sequence. Smart and Witty. Also, Igby's scenes with his Mom are very well written and reveal much about Igby's place in the family Slocum. Susan Sarandon as Mimi is on the other side of the world, character-wise from her role in 'The Banger Sisters.' Here she is the ultimate NYC Upper Eastside Wasp Matron dripping with superiority and condescension while Bill Pullman is heartbreaking as her weak husband and Igby's Dad.
Among the supporting roles, it is great to see that Clare Danes has survived the debacle of 'The Mod Squad' with all her luminous qualities intact. But ultimately the movie can only succeed or fail based on the strength or weakness of the actor playing Igby. Kieran Culkin does a superb job of balancing Igby's obnoxious traits with his basic humanity and caring. Culkin's Igby is, in the balance, more sinned against than sinning. There's a real and palpable intelligence emanating from Culkin that cannot be faked. Watch him as he listens'check out his eyes and more importantly what he is projecting from beneath his eyes.
'Igby Goes Down' is the blackest of black comedies with definite references to 50's style melodrama. 'Igby' is what 'The Royal Tenenbaum's' aspired to be: a witty, sharp, brilliantly written dissection of a particular family at a particular time in its very specific life.
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