September 20, 2002

By Veronica Mixon

There are a couple of movies opening that center around the trials of young people growing up and adjusting the world. Igby Goes Down, I'm happy to say, is one of the more positive portraits despite its dark premise.

Kieran Culkin stars as "Igby" Slocumb, the youngest son of a dysfunctional WASPY old money family. When the movie opens he and his Young Republican older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) appears to be killing their mother. But, during the film everything is explained. Igby adores his father (Bill Pullman) who has been institutionalized because of schizophrenia and rebels against his self-centered mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon), who's personally embarrassed every time the 17-year-old is kicked out of some expensive preppy school. Igby is pummeled by his mother, bullies at school and his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum) but he refuses to give into their dominance. He's determined to escape the stuffy upper-class chaos that destroyed his father.

When Mimi ships his off to military school in the Midwest, Igby makes a detour to New York City and hides out with D.H.'s druggy mistress (Amanda Peet). There he meets an assortment of characters like artist, Russell (Jared Harris) and bored beauty, Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes TV's "My So-Called Life"). At last he's happy and free - and in love. Sookie is available because she's decided not to go back to school and he's a WASPY rich brat with connections. She doesn't act on her secret ambitions until Oliver shows up and attempts to steal her away. Meanwhile, Igby discovers some cold truths about life and the frailty of the human character.

Kieran Culkin is wonderful and certainly has grown into a strong actor (at the moment surpassing his famous brother) as he's matured. His performance is superb as he takes his first screen steps into young love (also in Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys) and developing complex characters. I remember him as a boy giving a tender performance in Nowhere to Run opposite Rosanna Arquette and Jean Claude Van Dam. I knew he was talented when he could make the action-star look creditable.

Claire Danes (Romeo + Juliet, The Rainmaker) looks fabulous in this movie and she's truly the best actress of her generation. Danes makes Amanda Peet, who is still struggling for respectability on the big screen, look bland. Danes shows depth and longing in her character while Peet stumbles when it's her turn to step up and shine.

The veterans are great, too. Susan Sarandon makes you laugh hysterically as she brings Mimi's craziness to life and Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Ryan Phillippe (Gosford Park) are wonderful too. This is a quirky movie that will no doubt find its audience because of the super cast and the sharp, poignant deliver of the story.