Igby Goes Down
Matinee Price
Various comparisons of this film to other works have been made: The Royal Tenenbaums, Catcher in the Rye, etc. While some comparisons are inevitable, Igby Goes Down is an interesting dark comedy of its own right. My only real criticism of the film is that it seems to lose its way (not unlike its title character) about 2/3 of the way through, and never really recovers it. At the moment (if a specific moment could be found) of this stumble, the film as a whole loses momentum, and that too, is never fully regained. Overall, however, I really enjoyed Igby.
Kieran Culkin (Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) plays Igby, and he takes a character that could have easily slid into Lazy Teenager or Surly Teenager or Smartass Teenager or Tragic Hero and keeps Igby ever-changing, ever interesting, growing and shrinking with the tides of the events around him. He's like a kelp bed mired in shallows, pulled and swayed but never uprooted. Kieran is definitely the leader of the Culkin talent pool. He was fantastic in Altar Boys, and he's fantastic here. At one point (beach scene) I whispered to two of my companions that he was channeling Robert Downey Jr. in this scene and they both hissed excitedly, "That's what I was thinking too!" He's growing up more interesting to watch and look at than his famous older brother Macaulay, and he's also interested in more edgier fare. Little bro Rory cameos as young Igby. Kieran is wonderful and he himself is worth full price. Now I wish I could see The Good Girl with Kieran in the role of Holden instead of Jake Gyllenhal.
The writing is great too, despite the previously mentioned hiccup in the plot. Talk is witty but not forced, and the dialogue is sharp and clever. It doesn't hurt that they have an amazing cast assembled around young Kieran. Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Claire Danes, Ryan Phillipe, Amanda Peet, Bill Pullman, and new face (to me) Jared Harris (he played Andy Warhol in I Shot Andy Warhol) are the pinions of Igby's life, alternating as obstacles and tools to his admittedly unformed goals. Sarandon is wickedly luminous as mother to himself and chilly brother Phillippe, and wife to slippery schizophrenic Bill Pullman. Jeff Goldblum is a smarmy but doting godfather (in both senses), and Amanda PeetŠwell, you see her breasts again. Jared Harris assumes a small role but he manages to keep it away from caricature and bitchiness; the writing doesn't hurt any of these people either. Delicious lines spew forth, particularly from the lips of Claire Danes, and Igby sails over the lot, somehow remaining sympathetic despite all action to the contrary.
Writer/director Burr Steers, historically an actor by trade and nephew of noted prolocutor Gore Vidal, has created a work that feels extremely personal at some points, and sometimes very detached, as if studied from afar. The detached feeling is what makes me pause in giving a higher rating. I walked out not fully satisfied that Igby's journey was completed, or that he even had changed in the course of the film. The film succeeded in making me care about him, care enough to wonder what he is doing now, what happens next. You walk out with a feeling of satisfaction, but you're not sure where it came from. Perhaps just watching a nicely crafted film full of great performances is enough.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These reviews (c) 2002 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. reviews@cinerina.com Check out previous reviews at: http://www.cinerina.com http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/ - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource http://www.mediamotions.com and http://www.capitol-city.com
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