Igby (2002)

Igby: Directed by Burr Steers. With Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris. A young man’s peculiar upbringing renders him unable to competently cope with the struggle of growing up.

“Thereu0026#39;s no question aspects of this are quite brutal. But the theme of the story dictates they would be so.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIgby Goes Down is about a kid in nowhereu0026#39;s land. He doesnu0026#39;t know where heu0026#39;s going in life and responds to this by being a rebel in everything. Add to this his parental instability with a schizophrenic father and a tyrannical mother and you can understand why heu0026#39;d be a little mixed up.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn many ways it is a coming of age story, but in others it is too dark to be that. Indeed there is an ambivalence of themes with hope and despair featured in equal measure. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs Igby, Kieran Culkin excels. Heu0026#39;s outstanding, the best thing in the movie – which given the quality of his peers, such as a sinister and agenda-ridden Jeff Goldblum, a monstrous and hierarchial Susan Sarandon, a confused and tortured Bill Pullman and a squeaky clean upstart in Ryan Phillippe, is no mean feat at all.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerformances are uniformly excellent, the story involving, and the themes well explored.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWell done all round.”