The movie I picked for today is the 2002 somehwat comedy drama Igby Goes Down by Burr Steers. It stars Kieran Culkin, playing the protagonist Igby. Yes that is Macaulay Culkin’s brother. He’s the Home Alone kid currently looking like a hobo due to narcotics. Other stars include Ryan Philippe as his brother (my god the 90’s frosted tips was so terrible, good thing it remained there!), Claire Danes, Amanda Peet, and Susan Sarandon. I was reading a few synopses and reviews on this one. Apparently, it’s about this rebellious teenager, Igby, who grew up in New York trying to run away from his messed up family. Some people dubbed it a somewhat adaptation of the Catcher in the Rye. Side note: That’s actually one of my favorite books. They got big shoes to fill.
The start was already pretty messed up. The first scene was actually of the brothers killing their mother. Apparently, it was a flash-forward of what was to come. The scene after, their father was also introduced, he was pretty messed up in the head too. For the next following scenes, we see that the mother was very authoritarian and controlling of her boys’ lives. I don’t think it’s because she truly cares about them, it’s just that her personality is too self-absorbed like that. Their family is part of the higher society in the upper-east side, so their status demands a certain disposition. Due to that, their mother is trying to mold them how society wants them to be. It all boils down to control. If your dad is stuck in a mental facility, you got a controlling mother like that, an older brother who follows everything their mother says, and everyone expecting you for greatness and prestige, I’d go bonkers. No wonder Igby was acting out and wanted to run away that bad!
Igby’s all bent on rebelling against his mother and making her look like a fool. He does hilarious and stupid things to get himself out of the fancy schools. When his mother was fed up with his act, she sends him to military school. Staying true to his rebellious nature, he successfully escapes the school. Not after being beat up by other students with a broom. His mother finds out about his escape. Who uses a credit card to check in to a hotel? He can escape from military school, but fails to realize that credit cards are traceable. His mother sends him to his godfather, DH, for the summer. He meets two beautiful women, Rachel (Amanda Peet) and Sookie (Claire Danes) in their fancy parties, who are eccentric like him. Rachel was his godfather’s mistress and Sookie was in his age range. He lives with Rachel, who we later find out is a heroin addict, instead of going back to school. During this time, he also smoked pot and ate ice cream a lot with Sookie. Long story short, he gets date-raped by Rachel during one of her heroin sessions and later has a short-term relationship with Sookie. Lucky bastard gets to sleep with both Amanda Peet and Claire Danes.
It was short term because, unfortunately, his uptight brother Oliver steals Sookie away from him as they were starting to plan their escape. DH would also later find out about his living situation, and beats him up. Poor guy just can’t get a break. The last thing DH mentions to him is that his mother was dying of breast cancer. While all of his escapades were happening, his mother never really cared anymore since it was not under her watch. It shows that she didn’t really care about him, as much as she cared about her image. Remember when I said his mother was obsessed with control? Well she didn’t wanna die outta nowhere due to her illness. So he calls on Oliver to stage an assisted suicide, knowing he would not say no. Now we’ve come full circle from the first scene.
I wasn’t really sure what the tantrum Igby threw after his mother died was all about. It’s a bigger wonder why people would relate this movie to Catcher in the Rye. It’s nowhere near that. Perhaps the only thing similar is the rebellion of the main character. Igby was just being a little brat rebelling against his parents. Talk about every teenager in America! He’s no Holden Caulfield. It’s a shame they get compared. The movie was at least a little bit funny though.
One Movie A Day 