IGBY GOES DOWN (director/writer: Burr Steers; cinematographer: Wedigo von Schultzendorff; editor: William M. Anderson; music: Uwe Fahrenkrog Petersen; cast: Kieran Culkin (Igby Slocumb), Claire Danes (Sookie Sapperstein), Jeff Goldblum (D.H. Baines), Celia Weston (Bunny Baines), Jared Harris (Russel), Amanda Peet (Rachel), Ryan Phillippe (Oliver Slocumb), Susan Sarandon (Mimi Slocumb), Bill Pullman (Jason Slocumb), Gore Vidal (priest); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Marco Weber/Lisa Tornell; MGM/UA; 2002)
"... I was just not moved by this satire/drama, though I admired it for what it tried to do even if it couldn't quite make its case believable that the weight of the world had fallen on Igby's shoulders."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Kieran Culkin is Igby Slocumb, an obnoxious, whiny, self-absorbed lying brat, and a painfully intellectual misfit -- who gets bounced from one elite East Coast boarding high school too many and this time is sent to a military school as punishment by his detestable, cold-fish, society mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). But he manages to hideout in the bohemian environment of a Manhattan Tribeca loft without attending any school when he's also bounced out of the military school, in this mean-spirited and bitterly sardonic telling of Igby's coming-of-age story. His given name is Jason, but Igby was the name of a childhood toy bear called Digby which he loved but mispronounced as Igby; and, whenever he lied, which was always, his family called him mockingly Igby-- which stuck. Burr Steers (his mother is Gore Vidal's nephew), the Washington D.C. residing actor (he was in The Last Days of Disco) and stage director, is the first time writer/director of Igby Goes Down. He seems to be making some kind of autobiographical attempt to see what he could do with the usual teen angst motif in this post-yuppie generation yarn, something Salinger's Holden Caulfield once personified way back when for his "nuclear generation." Maybe the world has changed so much and much of it for the worst, but the kid is so unbearable and his wit is only used to showoff that he can make snide remarks to adults whom he considers to be stupid and hypocritical. The kid's sarcasm hides the lost little boy in him who was never loved by the assholes who raised him; but, this runaway, nerdy, smart-aleck, does not help his cause by being such a repulsive 17-year-old who most likely will grow up to be just as repulsive as a 40-year-old -- and with the money from his inheritance it would not surprise me if he grew to be the same type of shark-like capitalist lecher as his godfather and benefactor D. H. Baines (Jeff Goldblum). So when this black sheep of an upper-class family gets what goes for his come uppance by the film's end, it's hard to really care what happens to such a twit. His story is a dime a dozen as far as troubled preppies goes, as there are more genuine stories of unloved wealthy children than Igby's and they have been told in a more far-reaching way. The film's problem is that he is so besotten as a jerk and he shows no signs of changing, as he lives only for the hedonistic pleasures of today--drugs and screwing. He also seems to be into the blame game -- it's not him that has to evolve and change -- he blames everyone who is older and should know better who has not been there for him as the reason for his downfall and sour disposition.
Steers' film zings the wealthy dysfunctional WASPish Slocumb family that resides in Georgetown but has some NYC connections through the wealthy real-estate mogul D.H., who takes an uncharacteristically benevolent interest in looking after Igby. The film has the similar oddball and uncaring family theme as the recent "The Royal Tennenbaums," and you can name a long line of such themed films with a younger male having sex with an alluring older woman from "The Graduate" to "Tadpole." This one is just nastier than the others, and tries to be more hip by never budging from that attitude.
Igby's useless father Jason (Bill Pullman) couldn't hack the pressures any more and has a nervous breakdown; he ends up as a veggie in a Maryland funny farm. This leaves the selfish, pill-popping, anti-Semitic, haughty, and overbearing bitchy mom to take charge of her sons, as she adjusts to life by doping herself up on prescription pills. Her cynical mom routine works for her eldest son Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), an unctuous replica of her, who has no trouble conforming to what is expected of him and going after what he thinks he wants. But Igby is just filled with self-pity and a nasty attitude, and is too nerdy to have friends his age. The question that lingers is: Will Igby's life experience compensate for his poor school record and allow him to grow into a real man with loving feelings? The answer is not given, except one expects that the correct answer would be that Igby has learned that life is more than the day to day.
The film goes over-the-edge in its black comedy and how it presents all the unlikable characters in a family that doesn't seem to know what the word kindness means. Steers only gets out of his harsh and tasteless opening scene -- where the fumbling brothers place a plastic bag over their sedated and poisoned snoring mom until she's dead -- by a very clever twist for an ending, which doesn't give the film, told in flashback from that point, the warmth it really needed. But, it, at least, leaves matricide off the table as one of its missteps and makes the film, to its credit, unpredictable. Still it never solves its problem of making anyone likable or even bearable, and Igby is so despicable and demanding that his pompous Columbia University economic student brother Oliver says of him: I think if Gandhi had to hang out with you for an extended period of time, he'd have beaten you up. It's very hard to sympathize with such a brat, which is the film's main problem and something it never quite overcomes.
The main thrust of the plotless story revolves around Igby working on painting a NYC loft for D.H., who is the landlord for his trophy mistress Rachel (Peet), who's a heroin addict and a sometimes dancer. For sleeping with D.H., she gets to use the place as a dance studio for free. Rachel's best friend is the pretentious performance artist Russel (Jared Harris), a painter who does not paint, whose sexual orientation as well as anything else about him is never made clear. He befriends Igby and takes him around the seedier parts of town (the film never does much with NYC as a backdrop) and gets him involved in dealing grass, which gives the kid another adult to look down to. The kid also shares some bedtime with Rachel, and when the ever-smiling sleazy landlord finds out he reacts by giving the kid a beating. The film's title refers to the many physical and psychological beatings the kid gets from the adults who surround him.
On the summer weekends Igby resides with D.H. and his dim-witted wife Bunny (Weston), at their posh Hampton home. At a party in D.H.'s beach house, where Rachel is boldly invited in spite of Bunny's presence, Igby makes the acquaintance of a bored Bennington College drop-out, Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), who is unsure of what she wants to do in life and is working as part of the catering crew and doing other odd jobs until she gets her head together (all the arty types in this flick can't seem to get their act together to do their thing). The only thing that seems to really upset her, is when she's called by Igby a JAP (Jewish American Princess). This mixed up daughter of Jewish intellectuals ends up sleeping with Igby a month later back in NYC, but only because she's amused by him. It amounts to a soulful relationship between two misfits who haven't matured, but becomes a relationship he takes far more seriously than she does. When she is pursued by his brother who is her same age, she falls for him despite all their differences. This is almost the last straw for Igby who hates his obedient, watchdog, Young Republican brother, and feels betrayed by Sookie's rejection of him as a lover (shades of the teen protagonist in "Rushmore").
The movie is uneven, and its main strength you would think would be in its strong dialogue and bon mots; but, the film drifted too much off course going from social realism to satire without ever really establishing itself in either medium. The wit just did not hold up, though, as expected, there is the occasion when it hits its target. When Igby is booted out of one private school, he tells the reverend headmaster (Gore Vidal) "What's the big deal made of Christ's suffering, if the heaven that awaits him is so much better than earth?"
The kid has potential because he's smart, but one's character never changes and his character, though it is certainly not all bad, does leave a lot to be desired. The movie relies completely on what you think of the Kieran Culkin character and what you think of his performance. The performance I liked very much, but the character he played did not move me. Therefore I was just not moved by this satire/drama, though I admired it for what it tried to do even if it couldn't quite make its case believable that the weight of the world had fallen on Igby's shoulders.
REVIEWED ON 11/10/2002 GRADE: C +
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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