This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
dadgumblah’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
Kieran Culkin is excellent in the title role, a young seventeen-year-old raised in an affluent family, albeit one that is very dysfunctional. His mother (Susan Sarandon) is cold-hearted and only cares about Igby's education, job future, and how he'll look to other rich folks. Ryan Phillippe does a good job as Igby's also-cold brother who is successful in everything he does and casts Igby in a bad light by comparison. Igby's father (Bill Pullman) is closest to him, unfortunately he suffers from mental illness. Igby faces life with cynicism, sarcasm, and indifference, all the while being a pain in his mother's side by getting kicked out of every school he attends, and getting in trouble with the law. He encounters a varied group of characters including those played by Jeff Goldblum (as his godfather), Celia Weston (his godmother), Amanda Peet (a volatile sexy women he has sex with), Jared Harris (a very eccentric artist who never seems to turn out art), and Claire Danes as a young lady Culkin is smitten with. The script is very smart, especially the lines given to Culkin, who provides the movie with most of its humor. But keep in mind that this is a black comedy, so drama rears its ugly head before everything is over. I knew nothing about this one but I'm glad I took a chance.