Igby Goes Down

Holden Caulfield gets an update from Igby (Kieran Culkin) in this ensemble picture brimming with excellent character actors giving finely drawn performances that illuminate the struggle of its protagonist to find his own way amongst the wealth and structure that suffocates him. Or so this occasionally too-clever film would have you believe. Igby, kicked out of private school but not yet old enough to make his own decisions, struggles with the fact that all the adults around him are even more screwed up: his dad, Bill Pullman, is institutionalised; his godfather, Jeff Goldblum, is self-absorbed; his mother, Susan Sarandon, is obsessive-compulsive with a side of bonkers; and the girls he might like, Claire Danes and Amanda Peet, see him as a boy, a toy or both. Add his neo-con brother, Ryan Phillippe, and the dysfunctional hit-parade just keeps coming. As good as Culkin is in the lead, Igby Goes Down feels like an extremely prestigious acting seminar where the profs all take the stage. What it doesn't feel like is a real journey. Wisely deleted scenes, a perfunctory PR "In Search of Igby" featurette and sycophantic audio commentary from Steers and Culkin make this a renter. Extras: "In Search of Igby" featurette, commentary by Kieran Culkin and Burr Steers, deleted scenes with commentary. (UA/MGM)