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| IGBY GOES DOWN (2002) |
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And that tells most of the story. Igby Goes Down gives each of these actors the opportunity to draw some decent character studies and start/re-start their careers with an appearance in an "independent" film. Imagine - Jeff Goldblum NOT playing a scientist or techie or anyone who speaks q-q-q-quickly with a distinct ah, ah, ah, stammer. Just the other night, I saw part of The Fly on cable - the part where Goldblum is completely covered in Brundle-Fly makeup and needs to act with . . .his eyes. Between that performance, and his role in Igby as a stuffed shirt upper-class real estate magnate - I'm almost convinced this young actor has a future in the business. Speaking of futures - Kieran Culkin has one, however, not convinced Ryan Phillippe does. Culkin has all the charisma his older brother Macauley lacks. He's going to be a big star - especially if he learned anything from Macauley's career path. Phillippe, however, once again appears as if he's channelling James Spader from Pretty In Pink - man, this kid can act the hell out of shallow and snotty. And boring. Clare Danes' does a good job, though - finally doing something with the promise shown years ago on My So-Called Life. And Susan Sarandon: she's a great actress who chews up scenery with the best of them. What's this movie about? Not much. You know: well-to-do black sheep of the upper-class gets thrown out of prep schools, plays hooky in the Big Apple, gets laid, slums with the wrong type of people and comes to some sort of comfort with his background, but not without getting his ass kicked a few times. He's a clever boy, but not all that bright, deep, or mature. Igby Goes Down evokes a star-packed, technically proficient, student film. The story is tired, goes nowhere, and the structure is almost non-existent. It seems like there were big chunks cut out - the parts where they convince us that we should give a shit about the characters. If not for the performances, especially Culkin's, it likely would have gone straight-to-video. This writer/director has got to have friends in high places to get such high-profile actors, promotion and distribution. - Ian, Nov 4, 02 
With Igby and his brother, we really are looking at Robert Downey Jr (circa The Pickup Artist) and James Spader (circa... uh as long as I can recall) being reincarnated - or at least reanimated - in this film. Mind you, I'm not saying that like it's a good thing. I'm still waiting for the prophesied "This Generation's Answer to Emilio Estevez" to rise from the soiled masses. Every review of this movie I've had the misfortune to read (except for good ol' Ian's) mentions Salinger. So I will, too. "Salinger". Of course, movies like this only get made because the old bastard refuses to sell the rights to "Catcher in the Rye", so I think that technically we can blame him for this one. I think the only relation Igby has to any Salinger creation is the writer's love of stupid outdated or plain dumb names (Igby, Sookie... they really needed a Beulah in there, me thinks.). The cast - or at the very least the casting - is quite good overall. Goldblum and Sarandon play unlikeable characters, which is perfect for me because I dislike both of them immensely. Claire Danes I like. Whaddacutie. Amanda Peet's character Rachel is like Darryl Hannah from Bladerunner without the sexiness or super-robotic powers (read: not very interesting) and the artist friend dude seemed like a leftover character from Basquiat. I was vaguely annoyed at the way the writers felt they had to hand-feed the viewer every clever little thing they thought up (the best example I can think of is Sookie's penchant for dryly saying "that's funny" instead of laughing. I think that's a decent little bit of quirk to write into a screenplay. She does it 2 or 3 times and it doesn't feel overdone. So why the fuck does that chubby boy Igby have to call attention to it halfway through the movie? Because he's a bit twatty, and so are the writers). At no point did i ever care about Igby, and Sookie turned out to be a real bitch, if you ask me. It occurs to me that we're supposed to give two shits about Rachel but that...um... ain't happenin. Everyone else pretty much sucked in the first place. It's a watchable flick. - Tom, Nov 20 02 I
worked really hard not to mention an Igby/Catcher In The Rye comparison
exactly because every other review I'd read had. It's the obvious
comparison for any story that has a "poor misunderstood soul"
teenage boy running away to NYC to "live the life" 'cause
he knows so damn much at 17 years old. Holden had a nifty red hat.
Igby had a stripey scarf I think I just saw in a GAP ad that Tom hates.
The only future Ryan Phillippe has is between Reese Witherspoon's thighs. Heh heh. Lucky fucker. The Spader thing is dead-on -- My girlfriend and I, and I think Tom too, all commented on it independently...... whoops, having just now read his review, Tom definitely commented on it independently. Tom, you should change your Salinger reference so that you mention JFK Press Secretary Pierre Salinger instead of that other one -- the news junkies will be rolling in the aisles, I swear it. And I think they should have named that bohemian drug addict dude character Philip Seymour Hoffman. Just because. - Shawn, Nov 22, 02 I think you just gave me a good angle to add my own review: I'm just gonna review Catcher in the Rye and have Tom tack it on at the bottom. Understand, I'll say that I'm reviewing the movie "Igby Goes Down" -- but all the characters and situations to which I refer will be straight out of the book. It's fucking brilliant! -Shawn
NSK But dude, I totally just published your email about you doing that so now it's not gonna seem as funny. -Tom, NSK - June 5, 2003
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| AT A GLANCE: IGBY GOES DOWN | |
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MONKS: No. SOUNDTRACK: I don't remember it, so it must have been a little unremarkable. IF IT WAS A MAD MAGAZINE SATIRE: Eechhby Blows Dunce IF IT WAS REMADE AS A PORN FLICK: Uhhhh... Igby Goes Down? BUY IT? No. SEE ALSO: Rushmore, Ghost World, Graduate because they're all better.
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SCENES
FROM: IGBY GOES DOWN
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