Scene Selection — Geoff Carter: ‘Igby Goes Down’ simply to die for

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

Geoff Carter is a Seattle based free-lance film critic and entertainment writer. Reach him at carter@pre2k.com.

I couldn't tell you exactly why, but some of the funniest comedies I've seen begin with a murder. Such is the case with "Igby Goes Down," out on DVD this week (MGM DVD, $26.98), which opens with 17-year-old Igby (Kieran Culkin) and his college-age brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) drugging their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon).

The drugs don't work; Mimi merely falls asleep. "Must be all that tennis," Igby mumbles. In frustration, Oliver pulls a plastic bag over her head. Problem solved; comedy begins.

Igby has been thrown out of nearly every prep school on the Eastern Seaboard. As played by Culkin, it's not difficult to understand why: Igby has a razor-sharp tongue, a professed ignorance in societal mores and a strong urge to get away from his life: his domineering mother, his glib godfather (Jeff Goldblum), his schizophrenic father (Bill Pullman), his calculating brother and New York itself, which seems to turn overcast only when he steps outside.

So he escapes deeper into the city at his first opportunity, taking up with Sookie (Claire Danes), a bored student, and Rachel (Amanda Peet), his godfather's mistress. He is beaten and betrayed by everyone he knows. And when redemption comes -- which it does, but not in a manner you'd expect -- it's only after he's hit bottom and been forced to dig.

First-time writer/director Burr Steers proves himself a talent to watch with this fantasia on "Catcher in the Rye," "The Graduate" and "Rushmore." His dialogue snaps like rubber bands, and the performances he draws from his stellar group of actors deserve Oscar notice.

Culkin the older -- his brother Rory, last seen in "Signs," plays Igby's younger self -- firmly establishes himself as one of the best actors of his generation with his turn as Igby. His rumpled collar and Harry Potter scarf suggest a genteel bohemian in the making, and Culkin's manner, while abrasive, hints at something very fine underneath. No matter how much he fouls up, you remain sympathetic to him.

And it's a real treat to watch him playing the dozens. "What kind of name is Igby?' " Sookie demands. He barely cracks a grin as he shoots back, "The kind of name that someone named Sookie is in no position to question."

Phillippe also holds his own in the presence of Goldblum and Sarandon, both of whom give first-rate performances. His cruel, withering treatment of his younger brother really sticks in your craw, and I raised a cheer when Igby told him off at last: "There's nothing between us except a diminishing amount of blood."

The DVD includes several long cut scenes, which sadly constitute the bulk of Pullman and Rory Culkin's performances. Steers explains the cuts in a commentary track he shares with the older Culkin, but he really doesn't have to: The specter of Pullman's character hangs over the entire film, whispering hope into even the blackest moments.

"Igby Goes Down" is the most rare kind of dark comedy: It gets the balance right. In any other film, Igby's telephone announcements of his mother's death ("She can't talk now; she's dead") would seem forced or mean-spirited.

In Igby's world, it's the only way to return what he's been served.