Igby Goes Down

Rating:
Summary: Aboslute Perfection. Igby goes nothing but UP on my scale.
Review: When I was going through middle school and high school, I came across a book that would appeal to any teenager. CAtcher in the Rye has anything a young adult could want in a story:sex, drug, and of course crude comical language. After I popped in IGBY GOES DOWN into my dvd player, I realized that which made me so fond of RYE was right here in this film. I'm not saying that these two works are identical, but there isi similarities between that of Holden and Igby, plus aspects of their lives.

Since the Salinger family won't allow CATCHER to be a film (from what I've heard), Igby is the closest thing that a person could find if there looking to indulge in that sort of world. Yet, this film has so many aspects to it that leave it on a shelf of its own.

I am a true fan of visuals in film. Yet, this movie doesn't need anything but pure script and talent to deliver what I feel is the best movie of all time. In fact, seeing many similarities between them, IGBY rivals AMERICAN BEAUTY now as my favorite film of all time.

What is there not to love about this film? There is an all star cast. Susan Sarandon finds herself in the back light of the film with her role size, but delivers a stellar perfomance with her witty abnd stunning portrayl of Igby's sociallite mother. Ryan Phillippe gives IGBY the same performance that he gave in CRUEL INTENTION. I felt that they took SEbastian and added him into the film. Yet, even though there didn't seem to be much diversity in his perfomance, there wasn't much room for it since the two characters are quite similar. Amanda Peet, who I was not too familiar with aside from her television roles gives a steamy and scary perfomance as a junkie dancer caught in an incestuous relationship with IGBY's godfather played by Jeff Goldblum. One of my favorite perfomances in this film was carried out by Bill Pullan, where he plays IGBY's father gone crazy. There is one scene in-particular (without trying to give plot away) that carries him up on my list of great actors and takes his face away from being known as "the dad in CAsper." With many strong performances, the greatest one was played by IGBY, Kieran Culkin, himself. At first he seemed to be playing a role any teen actor today could play. His witty sarcasm and arrogance lights up the screen through out most of the movie. Yet, three-quarters of the way through the film, Kieran deleivers a scene that is worthy of extreme recognition. As he mirrors an emotional breakdown that his father was seen having in IGBY's younger yeaars, Culkin shows that he truely is an innumerable amount of steps ahead of his infamous HOME ALONE brother, but proves that talent does run in the family.

Yet these actors would have had nothing to work on if it wasn't for the screenplay written by director Burr Steers. IT is full of different turns, sultry scenes, and dark humor that make IGBY stand out from other coming-of-age films.

OVERALL! A perfect film with a perfect cast acting off of a perfect script. The only thing wrong with the film is IGBY's scarf which made me think Harry Potter was the newest street kind in NYC. WATCH THIS! You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Dark Comedy
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Igby Goes down
Review: After I finished watching this movie I felt unsatisfied. It seemed like I should have liked this movie more then I did. At times I found my attention wandering which won't happen with a great film. Parts of it were funny, and I normally appreciate dark humour but the film still seemed to drag. It has it's moments though and is worth watching. To greatly enjoy it however required more attention and effort then I felt it deserved at the time.

Rating:
Summary: Considerable style, but no center.
Review: I couldn't plug into "Igby Goes Down." I tried and failed. Ultimately, Burr Steers' movie is intended to be some sort of hip comedy -- the ribald music sountrack would clue you into that -- and I didn't laugh. The humor, however black, is the entry point into this movie through which you reach the deeper, sadder veins. That way, you can see Igby the way Steers does, as troubled but brave, and brazen, as a kid jerk trying to keep his head above the fray by his wits and fears.

Because I snuck in the back door, so to speak, I found Igby depressing and his sophiscation juvenile. I was like the shrink in the movie's opening scenes, who smacks Igby upside the head. You can't really like a movie that's this frustrating, can you?

The movie's opening half hour, I have to admit, put me in a foul mood with all its itty bitty scenes and tonal shifts. Steers takes a long time to settle down, and by then, I've had it.

Rating:
Summary: lifestyles of the rich and spoiled
Review: This was the first movie I viewed on my new DVD player, and not knowing how to operate all the functions accidently began watching the version that has a ongoing commentary by director Burr Steer and Kieran Culkin overdubbed, enduring ten minutes or so of this drivel is all one could endure before grabbing the instruction manual and figuring this thing out. My initial repulsion of there snotty self-congratualatory blather carries over to the film itself.

Now, "igby goes down" is not entirely without merit, this is a well crafted film with solid acting all around and an excellent screenplay, the sequence of igby navigating through a sea of partygoers is stunning. But ultimately it translates into just so much wasted celluloid. The fact that this film has been generally well received is to me a fascination of how the other .001% live, I for one have absolutely no interest in the trials and tribulations of the ridiculousy rich and spoiled.

I would encourage anyone feeling sympathetic of the igby character to a viewing of Martin Bell's "American Heart" or better still his earlier documentry effort "Streetwise".

Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: For a review, please refer to the title I have chosen for this review. Bad. Real bad.

Rating:
Summary: Hypnotic and darkly humerous fil with a big heart
Review: First time screenwriter/director Burr Steers has done what many others couldn't; made a thoughtful film that perfectly captures teen angst of today without becoming and cliche and mellow dramatic. Kieran Culkin is surprisingly good as Igby, a rich kid bouncing from boarding school to boarding school while he is surrounded by his tyrannical dying pill popping mother (Susan Sarandon, fantastic as ever), his institutionilized father (Bill Pullman who steals the film in the beginning), his wealthy and deceitful godfather (Jeff Goldblum in one of his best roles to date), and his uncaring older brother (Ryan Phillippe). While on the run from his mother, he finds a little bit of peace and solace in a drug raddled "dancer who doesn't dance" (Amanda Peet), her drug dealer (Jared Harris who nearly steals the entire film), and a college student (Claire Danes) as he slowly watches everything crumble around him. Culkin is great and carries the film, as does the rest of the phenominal cast, and the darkly comic vibe is carried throughout as well. However, be noted that Igby Goes Down is not a film for everyone, and may not be something you'll like at first, but find appreciation for after repeated viewings.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie that I have ever seen!
Review: This movie is great, I can't believe that everyone I talk to hasn't watched it already. The movie is just so moving, and has some very funny parts in it. This is a must watch, and must buy!

Rating:
Summary: Youth Is Wasted On The Young
Review: If only I had the words to describe what this films means to me right now at this moment in time. You can read all the other reviews regarding this film's parallelism to Catcher In The Rye, and whether or not Culkin's performance was great or not, and if Burr's writing and direction were spot on or a complete miss. Read some of the reviews discussing how self-conscious this film was with such self-conscious big words.
This film pushed me to do something and be something more, and that's a complement to those who created it, and this is my thank you to them.

Rating:
Summary: A rotten film about rotten people
Review: Very strange to have a film where every single character in the movie is a cynical egotistical self absorbed spoiled immature brat.