Igby Goes Down (2002)

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Written and directed by: Burr Steers
Rated R

Starring:Kieran Culkin (Igby), Claire Danes (Sookie), Jeff Goldblum (D.H.), Jared Harris (Russel), Amanda Peet (Rachel), Ryan Phillippe (Oliver), Bill Pullman (Jason), Susan Sarandon (Mimi Slocumb)

Synopsis: Dealing with family dysfunction, Igby seeks out the meaning of life.

Review: Hearing about this from the "intellectual crowd" back in the day on how great this movie is, I completely disagree after seeing it this past weekend. The act of "questioning authority" in a 400 Blows fashion by the title character hiding out in a friend's place smoking his life away and thinking you have it all figured out seems to be what made the smart "hotshots" think it was so cool. But if they were so "smart," why didn't they go for the gold and see The 400 Blows?

Unfortunately for Steers, his spin on the Antoine Doinel figure is more like a dumbed-down version of Zach Braff's "Andrew" from Garden State (not a compliment), who got their character inspiration from Dustin Hoffman's iconic "Benjamin Braddock" in The Graduate - follow me? In other words, the characters were far from being developed and needed to do so since Igby is a character study. No one was completely characterized except for Peet's "Rachel," who was in fact the most interesting character in the whole film! Everyone else (including "Igby") was far from leaving the audience an ambiguous idea of who the characters really and went straight to being underdeveloped and boring even though they did a terrific performance.

So to all of the children "coming of age" and "growing up," if your friends tell you to see this movie because it will "change your life," tell them you know better and watch French New Wave and Hollywood Renaissance films instead of that garbage. That will make them be quiet and look up "French New Wave" on Wikipedia.

Verdict: D