Igby Goes Down

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Igby Goes Down ★★★ 2002 (R)

Steers's directorial debut is a smart, dark comedy. Modern-day Holden Caufield Igby (Culkin) rebels against his privileged upbringing, dropping out of countless prep and, finally, military schools. Adrift, Igby heads to the boho pad of his rich godfather (Goldblum) and his beautiful, drugaddled girlfriend (Peet) and is initiated into their degenerate “arty” scene. While in a questionable relationship with Peet, Igby falls for soulful college dropout Sookie Sapperstein (Danes) who's also the target of his slick older brother Oliver's (Phillippe) affection. The matriarch of Igby's dysfunctional family is Sarandon, in a humorously unlikable role. Thoughtful, satiric view of the emptiness of the American Dream. 98m/C VHS, DVD . US Kieran Culkin, Ryan Phillippe, Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Amanda Peet, Jared Harris, Rory Culkin, Cynthia Nixon, Eric Bogosian; D: Burr Steers; W: Burr Steers; C: Wedigo von Schultzendorff; M: Uwe Peterson.