Admirable film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Igby Goes Down was a bit of a surprise when i saw it on television last night. A while ago i said that on IMDb the ratings done by voters isn't what i am going to look for if i want to see a movie. I love this site for information but some people should be screened on intellect to give some reviews in my opinion.That said, this film isn't a feel good movie and i agree that it sometimes is hard to identify yourself in the characters.However the little story and the absolute phenomenal acting from the cast makes this to a film well worth watching. The guy who plays Igby does a very good job and the rest from the cast is also doing their part.It's absolutely no waste of time to watch. Just don't expect to have a good light laugh direct after the film. I give it a solid 8.

This movie is about a poor little rich boy's journey from insolent, indifferent loser to just-as-insolent-but-slightly-less-indifferent loser. Along the way he mainly lounges around, looking forlorn as much more interesting characters rotate around him. Oh, and a couple of beautiful women inexplicably jump his bones while the worst thing that happens to him in this story is that he deservedly gets his ass kicked. Why writer/director Burr Steers thought this guy and this life were worthy of anyone's attention is beyond me.Igby (Keiran Culkin) is the youngest son in a New York City family that's just rich enough to not have to worry about money, but not rich enough to qualify as wealthy in New York. His dad (Bill Pullman) is a schizophrenic. His mom (Susan Sarandon) is a controlling harridan. His brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) is much better looking, more successful and more capable. For his part, Igby is a lazy no account who glides through life relying on the resources of others without ever suffering any sort of material hardship. And he's the "hero" of this story.After getting kicked out of one too many private schools, Igby takes a summer job working for his godfather DH (Jeff Goldblum). He puts as little effort into that as everything else in his life and winds up running away from all of his minuscule responsibilities to glom onto DH's girlfriend Rachel (Amanda Peet) and her performance artist lover/friend Russel (Jared Harris). After Rachel starts screwing him for no apparent reason, Igby manages to land another girlfriend in the form of Sookie (Claire Danes). She's from an upper middle class family of intellectuals, which means she has a certain air of sophistication but still has to work for a living.Anyway, after screwing Igby for several weeks or perhaps months, Sookie meets his brother Oliver and starts having sex with him after knowing Oliver for a grand total of perhaps 5 hours. Sookie's explanation for betraying Igby is that she and Oliver are the same age. Throw in Igby's mom having cancer and Igby eventually becoming the bag man for Russel's drug dealing and that's pretty much the whole movie.The only unabashedly good thing about Igby Goes Down is that Amanda Peet takes her top off. Considering you can probably find those images online after a 10 second web search, that means there's no reason at all to watch this self involved, badly thought out mess.Now, Ryan Phillippe does give a pretty good performance as Oliver but it's a case of a fine actor working at cross purposes to the film he's in. Oliver is a much more engaging character than Igby. He grew up in the same sort of family dysfunction but came out the other side as something resembling a grown up who's trying to live something resembling a grown up life. Oliver is screwed up but he's trying to not let that entirely define him. That's much more realistic and appealing than Igby, who is basically a young New York City-version of the Bill Murray slacker character from films like Stripes and Meatballs, but not being played for laughs. In many ways, it's like Igby should be a supporting character in a movie about Oliver.Igby Goes Down is another example of a filmmaker creating a main character without ever seemingly considering how or why the audience should care about him. I don't know why anyone watching this film should care whether Igby succeeds or fails, or even care what success or failure for Igby would look like. That lack of connection fatally undermines anything else the movie tries to do.Not that anything else here is all that good either. There are too many scenes that don't serve the story, too many times the audience is told things instead of shown them and there's one too many college rock songs on the soundtrack. The acting is okay, though Keiran Culkin is the least impressive member of the cast, but in the end…Igby Goes Down is one of those bad films that doesn't even offer anything enjoyable in its own badness. Skip it.

Throw a bunch of weird familial characters at a coming of age movie, and Igby Goes Down is the result.To compare it to Catcher In The Rye is a sin; the eponymous character has none of the real angst of Holden Caulfield, and the hotchpotch of miscreants and socialites Igby meets along the way are as dull and linear as in any film I can think of.The comedy moments aren't funny enough, the sad moments aren't tearful enough, and any moments of emotional flare are sparse and short lived.If you really can't think of a better way to spend 90 minutes, by all means give it a go, but don't expect to be philosophically or morally challenged by this film.

Igby Goes Down was by no means a terrible film. I would classify it as a dark comedy with a lot of drama. The movie was filmed well and has a very bizarre cast of characters. I thought Kieran Culkin did an awesome job and was perfect for the character. My only problem with the movie was the forced emotions that they tried to pressure on you. Every characters so called problems were simply self-created and I'm sorry but I can't feel sorry for some spoiled kid who never had a job in his life and can't handle the harsh upper-class lifestyle in New York. Claire Danes is a skank in the movie... nothing more. Her character starts off OK, but then ure like, WOW she is nothing but a whore and why should I feel sorry for her. Altogether I like this movie, it is the definition of an independent movie.VideoGameHollywood.com