Movie Review

Igby Goes Down

Macaulay Culkin has had his turn and now it's time to throw over the reigns to younger brother Kieran, who makes his debut as the lead actor in Igby Goes Down, a genre breaking film from first time filmmaker Burr Steers.

Igby has been compared with such works as The Graduate and Catcher in the Rye. I'd like to take it a step further and include "The Addams Family" onto that list as well.
Igby is a character who defines the new generation kid; he's rebellious and really has no idea what to do with his life, but feels accustomed to just living in the moment. He has a bit of Benjamin Braddock and Holden Caulfield in him, but this film is also trying to be a comedy as well as a character drama, and in that way it manages to also achieve a dark sort of quirky humor not usually found in a film like this.

Culkin stars as Igby, the son of a self absorbed, commanding witch of a mother (Susan Sarandon) and the brother of a stuffy Columbia college student (Ryan Phillipe). Unlike the rest of his family, Igby is an underachiever. He has been kicked out of almost every school in the country, he lies and cheats his way out of Military School, and seems to have no ambition whatsoever. His aimless existence was apparently brought on by his father (Bill Pullman), who worked very hard until finally suffering a mental breakdown.

The only father figure he has now is D.H (Jeff Goldblum), his Godfather. D.H owns several buildings in the city and even asks Igby to do some work on a new one, which is where Igby meets two women, Rachel (Amanda Peet), a dance choreographer renting one of D.H's apartments and also serving as his mistress, and Sookie (Claire Danes), a caterer trying to pay her way through college. When it comes time for Igby to try yet another school, he escapes and becomes involved with the both of these women while his mother deteriorates from breast cancer.

Igby Goes Down is at times both oddly humorous and heavy-handed. It's a combination that doesn't quite mix but Steers sets a pretty good tone to everything, making much of this film seem pretty damn engaging. The real strong suit here, though, is the very talented cast who pull off the transition between drama and comedy very well - but who also give their characters a lot of life and definition. Culkin is perfect as Igby, as he captures the urge to break away from authority and live life on his own terms but also encompasses the fear of having nowhere to go but down.

Sarandon is even better as his mother. She plays a woman whose been pushed to the point where her own son feels like a burden instead of a blessing. He's become nothing more than an embarrassment to her. I also thought Bill Pullman did a frighteningly effective job (although in limited time) of showing his character's decline into mental illness.

The rest of the cast includes Jeff Goldblum, Ryan Phillippe, and Amanda Peet, who also put in valid performances here. But, Kieran is the star and he handles his first starring role admirably. You're probably waiting for me to say he is better than Macaulay, but I'm not going there. Mac was a quality actor and hopefully he will be again someday. If he got a role like this in his young career, I feel he could of done it equally well. Here's hoping Mac comes back, but in the meantime, Kieran ain't bad.

Craig's Grade: B

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%