"His creation was an act of animosity," snarling mum Susan Sarandon spits out about her youngest. "Why shouldn't his life be."

This warm-hearted exchange sets the tenor for this mouth-wateringly bleak story of rebel-without-a-course college drop-out Igby Slocumb (Macaulay Culkin's brother Kieran).

Mother Mimi (Me Me...geddit?), played with acid callousness by Sarandon, insists he attends school, although doesn't otherwise demonstrate any concern for his well-being.

Schizophrenic father Jason (Bill Pullman) is away"recuperating from life" while brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe) is shaping up as a reptilian mummy's boy.

The only person to show the slightest interest is his suave mega-rich godfather DH (Goldblum), who wangles him a job in his New York property business.

Here he meets DH's trophy girlfriend Rachel (Amanda Peet) and her flamboyant artist friend and drug dealer Russel (Jared Harris).

Escaping en route to yet another prep school, Igby lands up on the doorstep of Rachel's SoHo loft (paid for by DH) and she reluctantly agrees to let him stay.

It appears Igby has avoided the drop that is his dysfunctional family and won't be going down after all until...

First-time writer and director Burr has spawned a wonderfully acerbic piece of cinema all too rarely seen in America.

It's won favourable comparisons with The Royal Tenenbaums but is actually better because you get the feeling the cast are there for content rather than kudos.

The dialogue - particularly Igby's - is littered with one-liners so acidic they'd melt the door of a bank vault while the characters manage the rare feat of being sympathetic yet utterly spiteful.

Utterly fresh, viciously bitchy and disarmingly touching, Igby goes down just fine.

Tim Evans