Igby Goes Down (2002)
Directed by Burr Steers
Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the stifling world of old money privilege he was born into. With a schizophrenic father, a self-absorbed, distant mother, and a shark-like young Republican big brother, Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.
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What critics compared Igby Goes Down to
…writer/director Burt Steers, who covers some of the same ground as 1998's "Rushmore" and this year's "Tadpole" but manages to put another spin on it.
The story, about a poor little rich boy misfit, has been done quite a few times before, notably in films like "Harold and Maud," and "Rushmore," but those were much better films than this weak effort.
Igby is an interesting character because he isn’t immediately likeable – he’s vaguely reminiscent of Max in Rushmore, owing to his dress sense and his propensity for a smartarse remark.
A self indulgent, over-written film that steals man-child/real-world life lesson clichйs from "The Graduate," and some prep school moments of "Rushmore," "Igby Goes Down" would be a lot easier to sit through if it weren’t so concerned with its own hipness and sarcastic wit.
Rushmore's Max Fischer wouldn't be caught dead telling lame New Jersey jokes, and the final-reel play at morbid gravitas (despised mother asks her sons to snuff her out) only invites unfavorable comparison to Harold and Maude.
And, coming in the wake of the superior, similarly themed "Submarine," perhaps George needs to consider the last part of another title his movie is reminiscent of, " Igby Goes Down ."
Salinger’s story of a privileged, existentially troubled New York teenager has provided the template for an American indie genre, the quirky, sensitive, coming-of-age stories depicted in films such as Igby Goes Down, Tadpole and last year’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story.
This kaleidoscopic, relentlessly downbeat film plays a little like "The Royal Tenenbaums" as envisaged by Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan," "The Last Days of Disco"), a talky, cryptic, often times witty but ultimately overripe look at wealthy, dysfunctional Manhattanites and the problems they're forced to endure.
Phillippe has established himself as a credible dramatic actor in films like Igby Goes Down and Breach, but he regresses here to the kind of sneering playboy roles he vacantly inhabited before he proved he could act.
When he gets Beverly Hills playboy Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe, "Igby Goes Down") as a client on attempted murder, Mick thinks he's hit the big time but he's soon in over his head, manipulated into a corner via an old case in "The Lincoln Lawyer."
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Standouts in the young cast include: Emma Roberts ("It's Kind of a Funny Story") as Sidney's striking cousin Jill, dealing with boy issues; Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes") as her confident chum with a love for horror films; and Rory Culkin ("Igby Goes Down") as a geek who streams video with another high school buddy.
Meanwhile a racist cop (Matt Dillon, "There's Something About Mary") appalls his new partner (Ryan Phillippe, "Igby Goes Down") by sexually fondling a black woman (Thandie Newton, "The Chronicles of Riddick") whose husband he's pulled over in purported response to the carjacking.
Other additions to the cast include the barely seen Jeroen Krabbé ("Ever After") as agoraphobic antiquities dealer van der Woude, Jared Harris ("Igby Goes Down") as Basher's London sound engineer, Eddie Izzard ("The Cat's Meow") as an inventor and Sir Anthony Hopkins and Cherry Jones ("The Village") as two of the film's 'surprises.' "Ocean's Twelve" provides some nice scenery in Amsterdam and Lake Como and all the entertainment value of its stars appearing as guests on a talk show.
The cinematography by DP Wedigo von Schultzendorff ( Igby Goes Down ) brilliantly captures the environment.
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The movie was directed by Burr Steers, whose résumé includes the bracing Igby Goes Down and episodes of Big Love.
As written by Jason Filardi (2003's " Bringing Down the House ") and directed by Burr Steers (who impressed with his 2002 feature debut, " Igby Goes Down "), the picture is all over the map, a heartrending drama about divorce, a morality tale about severed ties between a father and his children, a slapstick farce full of gags involving light-saber battles and "Lord of the Rings" fanaticism, and a thoroughly disposable teen flick all rolled into one.
Writer Jason Filardi ("Bringing Down the House") follows the genre checklist - an unassuming magical agent (high school janitor Brian Doyle-Murray), a sidekick best friend who's in on the switcheroo, uncomfortable dating situations involving the subject's children - and tries to maintain an internal logic, not always successfully, but director Burr Steers proved agile at directing a quirky ensemble with "Igby Goes Down" and has done it again here.
Director Burr Steers, who wrote and directed Igby Goes Down, knows how to let each actor and actress shine while moving the pace briskly enough so that there�s rarely a dull moment to be found.
Under the direction of Burr Steers (the odious “Igby Goes Down”), “17 Again” is more at home within a sitcom arena, featuring a broad plot of cockeyed redemption to underscore the flashy comedic fireworks display.
The movie, written and directed by Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down) after filmmakers such as David O. Russell walked away from the project over the years, conjures up a sense of bucolic dread, capitalizing on the striking visual juxtaposition of rolling fog, period costumes, and terrifying zombies making their way down a pastoral hill.
Director Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down) films PPZ as if it’s the BBC production, with lush English countryside vistas, gorgeous period costumes and hair, and with many of the book’s iconic moments intact.
Indeed American director Burr Steers (Igby Goes Down) doesn’t let the violence linger, perhaps with an eye to his home market, where the film scored a PG-13 rating.
Writer/director Burr Steers (“Igby Goes Down”) takes a perverse pleasure in his explosive heads retelling of the Austen classic.
For the Jane Austen-meets-the-undead scenario, the writer-director is Burr Steers, who has spent most of his previous films in simpler relationship stuff such as "Igby Goes Down," "Charlie St. Cloud" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days."
Adapted and directed by Burr Steers, the filmmaker behind the indie fave Igby Goes Down and a couple Zac Efron films, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies works first and foremost because he finds just the right balance between the two disparate elements that makes it seem almost natural for the story of Elizabeth Bennett (Lily James) and her sisters to be transplanted into a world of zombies.