Igby Goes Down on DVD

There are movies that are stupid, movies that are inane, movies that are clever, and movies that are smart. All can be enjoyable, if done properly.

Igby Goes Down falls into the smart category. Filled with great characters and driven by a very well written screenplay, Igby suffers the same fate as The Good Girl. Sure, the characters are great, but there’s not a single likeable one in the whole group. Even Igby is such a little jerk that – even if we do want him to triumph in the end – we still want to slap him.

Igby (Kieran Culkin) has been blessed with the world’s worst family. His mother (Susan Sarandon) is a nasty, homophobic, anti-Semitic b*tch who cares about nothing except her own image. His father (Bill Pullman) is slightly odd, to put it mildly, and his brother (Ryan Phillippe) is a self-absorbed jerk (it seems to run in the family). So Igby has had enough. He goes on the run, but he’s not quite sure what to do. He stays with his godfather’s mistress (Amanda Peet) and meets an interesting young girl, Sookie (Claire Danes) whom he falls for.

Whether Igby Goes Down is a comedy, drama, coming-of-age story, or whatever, it’s never quite clear. It has elements of them all, but never establishes itself as a single genre. It has some genuine laughable moments, a few heart-tugging dramatic scenes, but for some reason doesn’t quite work.

Almost all the roles are perfectly cast, particularly Sarandon and Peet, but it still makes us wonder how long it will take directors to realize that Ryan Phillippe can’t act. Even Culkin does an excellent job considering the difficulty of the role.

A smart movie with great characters but a questionable plot, Igby Goes Down delivers in the end. It entertains you for over an hour and a half, and that’s really the important thing.

Raking in about $5 million at the box office (granted, it wasn’t a major release), it’s no surprise that Igby wasn’t given a full-fledged special edition, but the one he gets is still pretty good. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture quality is not outstanding, but it’s not bad. It’s pretty soft, but isn’t hindered by grain or anything similar. Overall quality looks fine for this type of movie.

Audio is, as usual, 5.1 Dolby Digital, but there’s not really any “5.1” to it. It’s entirely front-restricted, but just like the video, it doesn’t really bother us too much under the circumstances.

There is an audio commentary by Kieran Culkin and writer/director Burr Steers that seems like it would be fun, but it’s pretty dry. There's also a making-of featurette that lets the cast & crew pat each other on the back for 15 minutes, some deleted scenes with optional commentary, and a photo gallery. Some of the deleted scenes are actually very good (better than some of the scenes in the movie, in fact), but the director states why they were cut and it makes sense (even if it is a travesty).

Igby Goes Down, from MGM Home Entertainment
98 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris, Amanda Peet, Ryan Phillippe, Bill Pullman and Susan Sarandon
Produced by Lisa Tornell and Marco Weber
Written and directed by Burr Steers

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