Igby Goes Down (2002)
Bekkah:
This movie was so bad. There was such a good cast! JG + Susan Sarandon + bb Ryan Phillipe + Claire Danes + Kieran Culkan (and another Culkan, too!)! So much promise! But this was just sadboi after sadboi. This was written by a sadboi about how hard it is to be rich and to be a sadboi. Kieran (Igby) is the saddestboi and I just hate him and I also hate his young republican brother. Claire was a shitty attempt at a shitty trope for sadbois (manic pixie dreamgirl). This was the least “Jeff” I have seen him in a movie. There was no joy! What did I just watch?! (Claire Danes’ sass and her hair were honestly the only redeeming thing in this movie.)
Danya:
Listen, I read Catcher in the Rye. I love a Harold and Maude and The Graduate double feature. I get the young rich white dude mucking his way through growing up by sleeping with women who are WAY better than he is. But even with that, I can not get down with Igby. It’s darker than it is comedy, and ends up feeling tawdry rather than moving. It feels like a reenactment of some screenwriting major fantasy: I escape school, live in NYC and have lots of sex, but boohoo also I’m sad inside but no one gets me. I appreciate the great number of Culkins in this movie (2) and the subtle scarf reference to the other Culkin (especially when he is trying to check into a hotel). Even Jeff can’t give this movie heart. Igby doesn’t care about anything, and neither do I.
The music was good (yeah early 2000s indie rock). I kept expecting Elliot Smith. But this movie is not good enough for Elliot Smith.
3/10 Goldblubs
A young man's peculiar upbringing renders him unable to competently cope with the struggle of growing up.
Director: Burr Steers
Writer: Burr Steers
Stars: Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum