Rating- * * * (3/5)
Reviewing this film has given me a new perspective on myself as a critic. Up until this point I usually assumed that if I didn’t get the same response out of a movie that I was apparently supposed to, then it was probably my fault. This is obviously a false conclusion because no filmmaker can ever expect an audience to come possess the same knowledge as the filmmaker. However, it is also unfair to assume that if an audience does not “get” a film that it is poorly made or deficient. There is a middle ground between these opinions that basically boils down to this; a film should not compromise itself to satisfy an audience but it cannot be successful without appealing to the viewers in some way. What does this mean for you as a viewer? It means that a good movie will make a connection with you no matter what but it also means that in order to fully appreciate some movies you will be expected to have a certain amount of outside knowledge. What does this mean for me as a critic? It means that while I cannot discount a well-made film because I didn’t “get” it, I do have the right to dislike a film that makes no attempt to appeal to me. I am not a New York intellectual, nor was I spouting out obscure literary references or using the vocabulary of a Harvard graduate at age 15, so nothing about the main character of this film, played by Kieran Culkin, nor any of the other pretentious and disturbed characters in this film appeals to me. I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person (as I think the incredible length of that last sentence proves) and I am reasonably well-read but I can honestly say that a good seventy percent of the references made in this film evaded my comprehension. Before I say anymore, I should give a brief account of the plot so you understand where I’m coming from. The story follows Igby, a young man from a wealthy and prestigious New York family, who grows under the reign of a terribly cold and selfish mother (Susan Sarandon) who is so brutal she makes her rather pleasant husband (Bill Pullman) crack and go completely insane. Igby gets thrown out of one prestigious private school after another until he finally lands himself in military school where he is physically abused quite often, which is not much of a change from home. Eventually, Igby runs away from home and lives with a drug-addicted dancer (Amanda Peet) in one of his godfather’s lofts. Igby’s godfather, played by Jeff Goldblum, is a particularly interesting character and probably one of the most fleshed out and well-developed characters in the script, although still just as unlikable as the rest of them. He is a man who has completely removed all illogical and emotional thought from his head in favor of money, contracts and all the illusions of wealth. Igby spends most of the movie trying to figure out what he will do with his life, now that he has written off school and “the system” as false attempts to create happiness, and interacting with the various other characters in the film. Other characters of interest include Sookie (Claire Daines), a similarly jaded and cynical young New Yorker who uses sex as her primary source of joy in life, and Igby’s older brother (Ryan Phillippe) who suffers from all the same stigma as Igby but has learned to cover it up with the guise of an exclusive education and an aristocratic flair. Ultimately, this film is about a young man who realizes that the world sucks and tries to figure out what he is going to do with his life now that he has made this realization. The story obviously owes a lot to Catcher in the Rye as being the template for all such stories as this, which could partially explain why the film did not appeal to me (I never read Catcher in the Rye). I do understand the appeal of the angst-ridden, teenage-rebellion, “the world sucks” kind of mentality because it allows people to be angry and opinionated makes them seem a lot smarter than they are. I, on the other hand, don’t think sitting around and bitching about the world makes it any better nor does it impress me when I meet someone who always seems to find a reason to be angry or cynical about something. There are obviously many people who act and feel the way the characters in this movie do (read the New York Times, they run the thing!) and this film does a remarkable job of creating and fleshing out those characters. The acting and delivery of the dialogue is also very impressive, particularly Goldblum who really shines in this film, and of course the newest Culkin star who may have a bright future ahead as a comic leading man. I cannot say that I enjoyed this film because it takes part in the same culture of cynicism that its characters seem to revel in and it exists in a world where I’m proud to say I just have no familiarity with whatsoever. I am sure there is a group of people who would identify with this film incredibly well, but neither I nor anyone I know would fit into that group.