Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11024 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-04
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Many movies strive to capture the confused, yearning spirit of The Graduate or The Catcher in the Rye; Igby Goes Down succeeds. Igby (Kieran Culkin) is a teen struggling to find any purpose or meaning to his life; surrounding him are his tyrant mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon), schizophrenic father Jason (Bill Pullman), wealthy and deceitful godfather D.H. (Jeff Goldblum), and cold brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe)--all of whom have their own problems. While evading being sent to yet another boarding school, Igby seeks solace with two women: Rachel (Amanda Peet), a drug-addicted dancer who's D.H.'s mistress, and Sookie (Claire Danes), a college student who becomes perhaps his only friend. Culkin carries the film, ably supported by the superb cast; script, direction, and performances are razor sharp. Igby Goes Down doesn't let anyone--including Igby--off the hook for their cruelty, hypocrisy, or lack of empathy. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
A drama that treads deep into the heart of Salinger country: Kieran Culkin is Igby, late of military school, now sulking in Manhattan and running amok with his mother's credit card. Burr Steers, in his début as a writer-director, seems to remember only Holden Caulfield's alienation, and none of the self-scrutiny-the sense that rebellion is a pose like any other-which makes that novel more than just a kiss-off. The movie has a cold and sour take on the rich and feckless, and the decision to open the film with Igby and his brother (Ryan Phillippe) euthanizing their mother (Susan Sarandon) doesn't exactly leave a lot of room to maneuver. There are a few affecting scenes with Igby's mentally unstable father (Bill Pullman), but none of the nuanced emotional progression that the story needs to have genuine impact. With Claire Danes as a Bennington poetess and Amanda Peet as a SoHo mistress. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

meh
This movie starts out good till about 1/2 way through when you stop believing it. All the actors are cast in roles that they always seem to play. I don't know, its good but really 1/2 way through it starts to suck, sound track in all. But its got an interesting plot. I'd rent this film first maybe, see if you like it.

A small work of genius
One of the most intelligent analyses of upper-middle class life I have ever seen - dark, funny, beautifully scripted, and above all TRUE.

One of my favs.
I love this movie. I had it stolen and had to purchase it again because I was sad without it.