Igby Goes Down is a 2002 film that follows the life of Igby Slocumb. It is written and directed by Burr Steers. It is rated R by MPAA for language, sexuality, and drug content.

Plot

Igby Slocumb (Kieran Culkin), a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the oppressive world of his East Coast "old money" family. With a schizophrenic father (Bill Pullman), a self-absorbed, distant mother (Susan Sarandon), and a shark-like young Republican big brother (Ryan Phillippe), Igby figures there must be a better life out there, and he sets out to find it. After happily flunking out of several prep schools, Igby escapes into the bohemian underworld of Manhattan. His darkly comic trip — shared by a deviant cast of characters, including his terminally bored, part-time lover Sookie, his Godfather's trophy mistress Rachel, and smack-dealing performance artist Russel — veers from bizarre to tragic in Igby's ultimately noble attempt to keep himself from "going down".

This satirical black comedy features Susan Sarandon as Mimi Slocumb, Igby's cold and calculating mother; Ryan Phillippe as Oliver "Ollie" Slocumb, his "fascist" older half-brother and Columbia University student to whom the most important thing is outward affluence; Bill Pullman as Jason Slocumb, his schizophrenic father; Jeff Goldblum as D.H. Banes, Igby's extremely wealthy, morally corrupted godfather and benefactor who is later revealed to be his biological father; and Claire Danes as Sookie Sapperstein, a Bennington student who falls into a romance with Igby, only to later betray him with his brother Ollie. Amanda Peet is cast as Rachel, D.H.'s mistress, who claims to be an artist but is in fact little more than a heroin addict. Director Burr Steers' uncle Gore Vidal has a brief cameo as a Catholic priest.

Cast

• Kieran Culkin as Jason "Igby" Slocumb, Jr.
• Claire Danes as Sookie Sapperstein
• Jeff Goldblum as D.H. Banes
• Jared Harris as Russel
• Amanda Peet as Rachel
• Ryan Phillippe as Oliver "Ollie" Slocumb
• Bill Pullman as Jason Slocumb, Sr.
• Susan Sarandon as Mimi Slocumb
• Rory Culkin as 10-year-old Jason "Igby" Slocumb, Jr.
• Peter Anthony Tambakis as 13-year-old Oliver "Ollie" Slocumb
• Bill Irwin as Lt. Ernest Smith, Pershing Academy

Cameos

• Eric Bogosian as Mr. Nice Guy
• Cynthia Nixon as Mrs. Piggee
• Danny Tamberelli as Turtle
• Gregory Itzin as Eulogist #2
• Gore Vidal as First School Headmaster
• Jim Gaffigan as O'Hare Hilton Manager

External links

• Official site