Igby Goes Down
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation (MGM) | Release Date: September 13, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
4
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Smart, uncanny, resistant to the short cuts of pop psychology, and shocking in the best since of the word, Steers' debut is a stunner. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
This is a marvelous film, a look at the strange, exasperatingly labyrinthine process of adolescence and the diverse ways people find to deal with it.
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Across the board, the performances testify, often hilariously, to the pain these characters feel and inflict but are incapable of expressing. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderFred Camper
Misses a chance to use the Manhattan setting to add to his protagonist's displacement, instead treating the city as a bland backdrop. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An inspired example of the story in which the adolescent hero discovers that the world sucks, people are phonies, and sex is a consolation. Because the genre is well established, what makes the movie fresh is smart writing, skewed characters, and the title performance by Kieran Culkin. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Think of the Slocumbs as distant relatives of "The Royal Tenenbaums," only more dysfunctional and far from attractively "quirky." Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Gets weirder and meaner and darker and sadder as it progresses, which is amazing since it simultaneously remains funny and horrifying right up to the end. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Culkin, a revelation here, mines every last nuance of the confusion and anger that results. Bursting with grenadelike one-liners and full-bodied performances, particularly from Sarandon (batty) and Goldblum (creepy) -- Igby Goes Down inaugurates a career that should be well worth following closely. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
More sour than sweet, but Steers knows that, even in a cruel, unsentimental world, there is room for forgiveness and hope. Just don't expect a hug. Read full review
70
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
Steers' film will likely polarize the audience, which, if nothing else, gives it rare resonance; at least it makes you feel, where many similar indie efforts make you sleepy.
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The movie is an actors' paradise, and absolutely no one disappoints. Read full review
75
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Culkin is superb - he makes you forget that Igby is a spoiled brat who actually deserves the beating he gets. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Smart and novelistic and spiked with more than a bit of The Catcher in the Rye, Steers' movie is a prickly coming-of-age tale in which everybody -- but especially Culkin -- shines. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
You'll gasp appalled and laugh outraged and possibly, watching the spectacle of a promising young lad treading desperately in a nasty sea, shed an errant tear.
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Lightweight, although it exhibits enough heft for us to develop an emotional connection with the main character. I have always appreciated a smartly written motion picture, and, whatever flaws Igby Goes Down may possess, it is undeniably that. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Witty and intelligently made. It's also utterly baffling. Read full review
100
SlateDavid Edelstein
Igby Goes Down got a reaction from me: I think it's the movie of the year. I squirmed, I laughed a lot. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Gives the impression of spontaneity while being meticulously planned. Most importantly, Steers and Culkin know that the best way to evoke sympathy is never to beg for it; by the end, their achievement seems hard-won. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This film and Salinger's novel differ greatly in the details of narrative and character. Yet, there's no mistaking the similarity in tone and sensibility and, particularly, in the capacity to split an audience into warring camps fighting on shared ground. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Although Igby has its share of glitches and tonal inconsistencies, it packs an emotional wallop similar to that of another cultural golden oldie as beloved in its way as "The Catcher in the Rye": "The Graduate." Read full review
80
Variety
Young Kieran Culkin holds his own against a stellar ensemble in Igby Goes Down, a family comedy so dark it turns "The Royal Tennebaums" into latter-day Bradys. Read full review
90
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Wickedly funny, jarringly transgressive, obdurately unpigeonholeable and startlingly moving. Read full review
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
A dead-on sense of how rich kids live and talk today, a sense of the melancholy of a dysfunctional family, and some great dark laughs. Read full review
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