Rating: 
Summary: Igby Goes Nowhere
Review: Somewhere inside Igby Goes Down there's a good movie waiting to come out. It never does. Igby is one of the most cynical films ever made, and it makes the cardinal sin of thinking that dark sarcasm always equals laughs. That is not the case here. Igby throws together a bunch of unlikable characters and tries to get you to care about them. But it's all too smug to draw you in. The film is also a complete mess, jumping forward and backward in time abruptly, and never lingering in one place long enough for you to make a connection with any of the characters. Keiran Culkin shows natural charisma as the troubled Igby, but he is largely wasted on a script that refuses to let his character grow or gain our sympathy. Igby Goes Down also earn the dubious distinction of 2002's Best Score to a Bad Film. All the music here is fantastic. But even that can't help the film shed its Too Cool Indie attitude. There have been connections between Igby and Catcher in the Rye. But Catcher was good. And Igby is bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark, funny, moving and briliant!
Review: Igby is, in an age of over-hyped blockbusters, pretentious Roads to Perdition, bloated Chicagos and solipsitic Adaptations, quite simply, the real thing. The wittiest script since The Graduate, maybe All About Eve! And ultimately full of real people who break your heart. Every performance is pitch perfect. Of, course, the real credit goes to Mr Steers, who has created a Holden Caulfield for the new millenium. I cannot praise this work of art enough!-- Nicky Silver
Rating:
Summary: Kieran Culkin is brilliant and so is Igby!
Review: Igby Goes Down is a film about a lost youth, who fights with his perscription drug addicted mother(Susan Surandon), leaves or is expelled from all forms of school and ends up living on the lamb from family in an apartment in Manhattan with heroin addicted dancer who doesn't dance(Amanda Peet). He falls for a girl who is the picture of a Boheimian(Claire Danes) and is ultamately left hartbroken when she leaves him for his older, better looking, but remarkably colder older brother(Ryan Phillippe). This is a bare summary that sets the story, but shows you none of the profound truth and emotion that the film portreys. Kieren Culkin is Igby, but he could easily be a young Robert Downey Jr. You truely get a first glimps of an astonishing young actor.Igby is not his real name but it is so fitting for such an original character. Igby Goes Down is full of sophistocated and complex characters. But they are all manage to be very different. Films released recently that claim to draw an accurate portrate of the youth experience in today's society such as The Rules Of Attraction, are full of the same characters appearing in both sexes and all sexualities. It is rare that a film can make characters relationships seem real if the characters are not similar. Igby is the exception. The film repeats no characters and all relationships seem realer for it. The longest friendships in real life are not based on common interests, interests change. Real relationships are built on differences. For example the reason you fight so much with your mother is because you are so alike. This is true of Igby's relationship with his mother, and the differences between himself and the others around him is what keeps the film and the relationships interesting. No one should miss this truely brilliant, amazing, funny, and charming movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A MESS!
Review: I had read good things but was let down,kieren culkin has talent but it is wasted.
Rating:
Summary: It was irritating to watch.
Review: I'd heard good things about this movie. I live in a medium sized town that's home to an extremely liberal university. Watching the movie was irritating. I couldn't really appreciate any of the characters and all the whining, Jeez! It was like dealing with a spoiled college kid. Such victims. Put away the Kleenex, do something you enjoy and make this world a better place. However, if feeling sorry for yourself is your thing-this is your movie. Watch a movie that's more fun than this one. You'll feel happier at the end.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent demented dark comedy
Review: I knew this was a movie I had to watch because something about the story drew me in. The movie is about a disfunctional family. The star of the movie is Kieran Culkin in which watching this movie I had a feeling this guy is somebody to look for in the future. The story revolves around his character (Igby) and his mother played by Susan Sarandon is this woman that tries so hard to get Igby on the right path that she starts to become addicted to pills. Ryan Phillippe plays Igby's brother who is this person who acts like he has everything and is going to get everything, really stuck up so they often clash. Claire Danes is the girl Igby meets at his Godfather's party. Jeff Goldblum plays the Godfather of Igby. The movie starts off in present time and goes back and forth in the past so you can see a young Igby (played by Kieran Culkin's younger brother Rory) growing up in a home that is slowly going down which leads up to why Igby is going down. This is the first movie from this director (Burr Steers) which was actually really really good for a first time director. The features on the DVD are not great in quantity but it gives you something to enjoy like: Commentary by Burr Steers and Kieran Culkin, deleted scences, trailers, a featurette on the movie, and a photo gallery. I highly recommend this movie for people who enjoy drama/comedy type movies.
Rating:
Summary: Worst Movie of 2002
Review: I love movies, but never have I been more pained than watching this one. Kieran Culkin plays Igby, a spoiled rich kid who has nothing better to do than whine and complain about how stupid life is. He is a wannabe Holden Caulfield. But while Holden was intelligent and likeable, Igby is just down right annoying. Along the way he meets characters who are so pretentious by trying to be weird and strange.
I really wanted to like this movie. The title is very interesting and the cast made me want to see it. But I must tell you that I wanted to walk out of this movie thirty minutes into it. It is so horrible. Ryan Philipe is flat as the older brother and Susan Sarandon's talents are simply wasted. A terrible, terrible film.
Rating:
Summary: A great teen angst film that could become a cult classic
Review: In the history of film teen angst films are a relatively recent genre. The first classic teen film, in fact, might be REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. There have been a few additional good teen films, but most of them, by and large, haven't been terribly successful. IGBY GOES DOWN is a spectacular exception, and takes its place as one of the finest teen films ever made. Although it has many exceptionally sad, even tragic elements, it is nonetheless a comedy. But even at its sharpest moments, the comedy is very, very dark. At one point Claire Danes says to Kieran Culkin, "You're funny" and he replies, "Then why don't you laugh?" This could be emblematic for the film as a whole. The movie begins with Culkin and Ryan Phillippe, playing sons of Susan Sarandon, placing a plastic bag over her head to kill her. It sets the tone for the rest of the film as effectively as any I have ever seen. Moving on from there, we are introduced to all the various broken individuals who inhabit Igby's world: His horrific, unaffectionate, hyper critical, coldhearted mother, played magnificently by Susan Sarandon. His loving father played by Bill Pullman, who nonetheless succumbs to mental illness and is institutionalized. His amoral, cold brother. His philandering godfather played by Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum's mistress, a heroin addict played by Amanda Peet. For a while, he apparently has a decent girlfriend, played by Claire Danes, but she ends up hurting him as much as any of the others. It is indicative of how wretched his world is when perhaps his greatest benefactors in the film are the heroin addict and her drug supplier. Igby is no saint, but by the end of the film, you end up thinking that, given his execrable upbringing and acquaintances, he has turned out far better than one might have hoped. Kieran Culkin does a first rate job as the quick witted, verbally clever, emotionally messed up Igby. In fact, just about everyone in the film excels in their role. The true star of the film however, is first-time director/screenwriter Burr Steers. His direction is excellent, but the screenplay is nothing less than stunning. This film has received a great deal of critical attention, but it hasn't received the kind of general attention that it deserves. I believe that over time more and more people will discover this film. It is far too good to become forgotten. Eventually, it should establish a significant base of fans, and could possible become a great teen cult film. If not, it still is a phenomenal film that deserves as many viewers as it can get.
Rating:
Summary: You Have Been Warned
Review: I never write reviews on this site and I am reticent to trash anything, but I am bothered because this film purports to be a filmed version of "The Catcher in the Rye" (Salinger would never sell the rights, especially if he read this script, thus the name change). I truly believe this film gets it all wrong and that Salinger's view of the world wasn't this cynical and dehumanizing. Burr Steers' faux-intelligent translation to film is a pretentious mess with characters of no redeeming value. The humor is forced and tired and the performances are all over-the-top, a style of acting which is all too easy for any decent actor to pull off. I hated sitting through this movie because I really indentified with Salinger's book when I was younger. Once I realized that that was what this film was trying to emulate, I got angry. Salinger's novel wasn't nearly this pessimistic. That said, the soundtrack is decent so, for that, I'll give it two stars. If you must buy this movie, please ignore the dialogue and listen to the music. This is why some actors shouldn't be given a camera.
Rating:
Summary: excellent movie
Review: For anyone who liked Catcher in the Rye, or simply anyone with good taste, you will love this movie. The cast is perfect, the plot is entertaining, and the lines are hilarious and touching. See it.
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