Rory Culkin Movies
Often referred to as "the littlest Culkin," Rory Culkin came to acting with a family reputation that stands in inverse proportion to his diminutive stature. Born in 1989, as the youngest child of the infamously fractious Kit Culkin and Patricia Bentrup, Rory was only a year old when his eldest brother, Macaulay, found an almost obscene degree of fame and fortune thanks to his starring role in Chris Columbus' blockbuster Home Alone. Most of Rory's earliest screen appearances came courtesy of his resemblance to his famous brother; fans of The Good Son (1993) may recall his appearance as a younger version of Richard, Macaulay's bad seed alter ego. Likewise, Rory also played the more childlike version of his brother's title character in Richie Rich. Unfortunately, any talent the wee Culkin may have exhibited was, for a number of years, largely obscured by his family's various misfortunes. Following the bitter and widely publicized breakup of his parents, Culkin also had to endure the unfavorable publicity surrounding Macaulay's career burnout and a 1998 fire in his family's Manhattan apartment. In 2000, he finally earned recognition as a talented young actor, thanks to his role as Laura Linney's wry, observant son in Kenneth Lonergan's much-acclaimed directorial debut You Can Count on Me, causing both critics and audiences to remark that perhaps big screen bankability had not been limited solely to Culkin the Eldest. After a subsequent appearance in Showtime's made-for-cable film Off Season (2001), Culkin once again appeared as a younger incarnation of an older sibling, this time Kieran, in the art-house comedy Igby Goes Down (2002). As his first major feature role independent of his siblings, Rory appeared as alongside Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix in M. Night Shyamalan's rural alien invasion thriller Signs. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
In this made-for-cable comedy-drama, a ten-year-old boy (Rory Culkin), who is still coming to terms with the death of his parents, is sent to spend the summer with his aunt (Sherilyn Fenn), who works as a lounge singer at a Florida resort hotel that's seen better days. While living at the hotel, the boy makes the acquaintance of Sam (Hume Cronyn), an elderly man who is enjoying an extended vacation in the Sunshine State. As the boy becomes friendly with Sam, he begins to wonder if the older, bearded man might actually be Santa Claus looking to get away from the North Pole prior to the year's toy-building season. Off Season was directed by veteran actor Bruce Davison, who also appears in a supporting role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Culkin, Hume Cronyn, (more)
Nearly a decade after impressing audiences at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival with their engaging coming-of-age story Goat on Fire & Smiling Fish, filmmakers Derick and Steven Martini return to deliver this period drama following two families whose lives are profoundly affected by complex relationships, real estate woes, and Lyme disease. Set on Long Island in the late '70s, Lymelife opens to find a suburban community swept up in fear after local resident Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton) is diagnosed with Lyme disease. Charlie's tightly wound neighbor Brenda Bartlett (Jill Hennessy) is determined not to let her gentle 15-year-old son, Scott (Rory Culkin), suffer a similar fate, and has taken to duct-taping his cuffs to ensure that he remains Lyme disease-free. Meanwhile, as Charlie convalesces, his wife, Melissa (Cynthia Nixon), goes to work for Brenda's philandering husband, Mickey (Alec Baldwin), a respected real estate developer. All the while, Melissa remains clueless to the fact that she was hired more out of lust than as a friendly favor to a neighbor in need. For years, Scott has pined after Charlie and Brenda's daughter, Adrianna (Emma Roberts), and strangely enough, it seems that she's finally starting to return his affections. Tensions are running particularly high in the neighborhood lately, and when Scott's older brother, Jimmy (Kieran Culkin), arrives home on leave from the army, his confrontations with his tempestuous father, Mickey, threaten to trigger repercussions that will affect the lives of everyone involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Rory Culkin, (more)
A man whose life has been touched by tragic illness is drawn into the life of another victim whose story has an unsettling twist in this drama. Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) is a radio talk show host who has developed a loyal following for his deeply personal on-air monologues, many of which deal with his relationship with his companion Jess (Bobby Cannavale), who is HIV-positive and struggling with his health. When Jess' condition improves, he surprises Gabriel by announcing he needs his space and has decided to break up with him. Gabriel is shaken and feels creatively blocked until Ashe (Joe Morton), a friend in the publishing business, gives him an advance copy of a memoir by Pete Logand (Rory Culkin), a 14-year-old boy living with AIDS. Pete's book is a harrowing memoir of a childhood fraught with abuse of all sorts meted out at the hands of his parents, and Gabriel is deeply moved by his story. One night, Gabriel gets a phone call from Pete, who claims to be a big fan of his radio show, but the call is cut off by Donna (Toni Collette), Pete's stern and protective stepmother. While Gabriel admires Pete's book, he begins to question its veracity, and with the help of Anna (Sandra Oh) tries to research the facts behind the story. As he uncovers more loose ends, Gabriel begins to suspect that Pete isn't the true author of the work, and that Donna has created his terrible past in the name of literary celebrity. The Night Listener was adapted from the novel by Armistead Maupin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, Toni Collette, (more)
A romance between a teenage girl and a thirtysomething drifter takes the young woman down a dangerous and unexpected path in this independent drama. Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood) is a pretty 18-year-old whose father, Wade (David Morse), is the sheriff of a town in California's San Fernando Valley. Tobe is driving to the beach with some friends when she stops at a filling station and meets gas jockey Harlan (Edward Norton), who dresses like a cowpoke and claims to have recently relocated to Los Angeles from South Dakota. Harlan is immediately and obviously taken with Tobe, and when she asks him to tag along for the day, he impulsively quits his job to follow her. Tobe and Harlan soon become a couple, but Wade is convinced Harlan is not all he claims to be, and Tobe begins to wonder if her father might be right when Harlan takes her horseback riding and their date is cut short after police inform them the horses have been stolen from an rancher (Bruce Dern) whom Harlan claims is a friend - and who promptly turns up with a gun to confront both of them, insisting that he has never seen Harlan before. Tobe's suspicions grow when Harlan offers to teach her little brother, Lonnie (Rory Culkin), how to shoot using a pair of real .45 revolvers, as his actions become less charming and more worrisome. Leading man Edward Norton also served as producer on this project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Norton, David Morse, (more)
A determined California detective attempts to crack one of the most mysterious cases in modern crime as the tale of the fearsome Zodiac Killer comes to the screen in director Alexander Bulkley's cinematic account of the crimes that rocked San Francisco's Bay Area from December of 1968 to October of the following year. As the citizens of the small California town of Vallejo prepare for their holiday celebrations, the discovery that two teens have been viciously gunned down at a remote lover's lane leaves the citizens of a once tight-knit community fearing for their lives. In the months that follow the brutal crimes, Vallejo police inspector Matt Parish devotes his entire existence to revealing the identity of the elusive killer and ensuring that no more innocent lives are taken. With pressure from both his superiors and the local press mounting, lack of sufficient evidence and increased tensions at home lead Inspector Parish down a series of frustrating dead-end roads. When the killer strikes yet again, this time shooting a young couple in a darkened parking lot, investigators are shocked to receive a phone call from a man confessing to the crime. A letter sent to the local newspapers by the confessed killer states that if it is not published, a dozen more people will die in the coming weekend. Even more curious, the letter contains a mysterious code that, if deciphered correctly, will supposedly reveal the true identity of the man behind these shocking crimes. Though a suspect is questioned following yet another killing, this time in broad daylight, the frustrated police department fails to make an arrest as the elusive killer continues to taunt both the police and the media with a series of menacing letters. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Justin Chambers, Robin Tunney, (more)
The death of a troubled teen throws a suburban neighborhood into chaos in this darkly satirical comedy. Dean (Jamie Bell) is a disaffected teenager living in a California suburb that's beautiful on the surface but populated by families who live emotionally vacant lives, with the parents often too wrapped up in their own problems to pay attention to their children. One day, Dean discovers his best (and only) friend, Troy (Josh Janowicz), has killed himself. While Troy's mother (Glenn Close) hasn't figured out her son is dead just yet, Dean opts not to tell her, and besides, his own parents (William Fichtner and Allison Janney) don't appear very concerned. Dean, however, does have reason to worry -- Billy (Justin Chatwin), Lee (Lou Taylor Pucci), and Crystal (Camilla Belle) are three bullies who used to buy drugs from Troy, and they want Dean find Troy's remaining stash and give it to them. When Dean refuses to cooperate, the bullies decide to get tough and kidnap Dean's little brother; however, they end up taking the wrong child and Dean grudging finds himself trying to rescue a child he doesn't know. Meanwhile, as the adults in the neighborhood begin to emotionally implode, "the Chumscrubber" becomes a common presence in town -- a comic book and video game character represented by a decapitated post-apocalyptic teenager who has become an unavoidable pop-culture icon. The Chumscrubber also features Ralph Fiennes, Carrie-Anne Moss, John Heard, and Rita Wilson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, (more)
Independent filmmaker Jacob Aaron Estes makes his feature debut with the coming-of-age drama Mean Creek. Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Josh Peck, Trevor Morgan, and Carly Schroeder are teenagers living in small-town Oregon. Some of the boys take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions. Mean Creek was workshopped at the Eugene O'Neill Center's National Playwrights Conference and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the American Spectrum program. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, (more)
The cynical son of an upper-class New York family bedeviled by booze, pills and mental illness strikes out on his own in this caustic, darkly comic drama. Igby Slocomb (Kieran Culkin) and his older brother, Oliver (Ryan Phillippe), are are in the process of killing their mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon). Flashbacks delineate Igby's troubled childhood: Speed-freak Mimi and her depressed husband, Jason (Bill Pullman), snipe at each other endlessly until Jason attempts suicide before Igby's very eyes and takes up residence in a mental hospital. Igby grows into a rebellious youth, gets kicked out of several boarding schools and ends up in a hellish military academy. After one failed escape attempt, he heads to New York City and hides out in the apartment of Rachel (Amanda Peet), the heroin-addled mistress of his godfather, D.H. (Jeff Goldblum). Oliver locates the young scoundrel and informs him that Mimi is suffering from cancer. Unperturbed, Igby continues his slacker existence -- and his romance with Sookie (Claire Danes), a hipper-than-thou undergraduate who finds herself torn between Igby and Oliver. As Igby gets drawn further into the mind games and hypocrisy of the adult world, his already jaded outlook grows even darker. He takes to dealing smack and hanging out with a cross-dressing performance "artist" (Jared Harris). Ultimately, though, Mimi's impending death draws him back into the family fold for unexpected revelations and realizations. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Burr Steers, Igby Goes Down features Rory Culkin, Kieran's brother, as the young Igby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kieran Culkin, Susan Sarandon, (more)
Kenneth Lonergan, the co-screenwriter for Analyze This (1999), makes his directorial debut with this sensitive portrait of a pair of grown siblings. Sammy and Terry Prescott (Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo) were orphaned as children after their parents were killed in a car accident. Since then, the two have taken drastically divergent paths. Sammy is a single mother who leads a quiet, stable life in a small town in upstate New York. A fiercely protective mother, she shields her young son Rudy (Rory Culkin) from all information about his absentee father. She is also involved with Bob (Jon Tenney), a well-meaning but less-than-exciting mate, both in and out of bed. Terry, by contrast, is a troubled, self-destructive soul eking out a nomadic existence. When he abandons his pregnant girlfriend to borrow money from his sister, Sammy finds her stable world disrupted. A bond soon develops between Terry and Rudy; over the objections of his mother, Terry takes the tyke fishing and shares old family secrets. Meanwhile, Terry's presence inspires Sammy to break out of her quiet life. This film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, (more)
A family takes on the difficult task of learning how to get along with one another in this emotional comedy drama. Alex Gromberg (Michael Douglas) is a middle-aged man who feels caught in the middle of his familial obligations as he muddles he way through a midlife crisis. While a successful businessman, Alex sometimes still feels as if he's under the shadow of his father, Mitchell Gromberg (Kirk Douglas), a successful attorney whose skills in the courtroom outstripped his gifts as a parent. Elderly Mitchell has recently survived a stroke, and Alex and Mitchell want to mend their relationship while there's still time, but making it so proves difficult, even with Alex getting advice from his wife, psychologist Rebecca (Bernadette Peters), and Mitchell being prodded by his long-suffering wife, Evelyn (Diana Douglas). Alex is also trying to reach out to his two sons, who are as different as night and day; college student Asher (Cameron Douglas) is an aspiring club DJ who seems to be styling himself to bear no resemblance to his father, while 11-year-old Eli (Rory Culkin) is an overly serious lad who is having trouble navigating the first steps of adolescence. It Runs in the Family marked the first time Kirk Douglas acted in a film with his son Michael Douglas; adding to the family atmosphere was Michael's son Cameron Douglas, working with his family for the first time, and Diana Douglas, Kirk's former wife and Michael's mother. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kirk Douglas, (more)
Following the smash hit The Sixth Sense (1999) and the under-performing follow-up Unbreakable (2000), directing phenom M. Night Shyamalan returns to the summer box office landscape that served as the backdrop for his cinematic breakthrough. In Signs, another paranormal outing for the writer-director, Shyamalan explores the eerie implications of a 500-foot crop circle that mysteriously appears on the Bucks County, PA farm of reverend Graham Hess (Mel Gibson). As Hess and his family (Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin) try to take stock of what the sign means, and how its message incorporates into their faith, they start to get the feeling they are not alone in the fields behind their house. Shyamalan re-teams with producers Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer and Kathleen Kennedy, and produces the project in association with his Blinding Edge Pictures banner and Touchstone Pictures. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, (more)
