A Nearly Useless Film.

Rating: Null/10 (28 October 2001)

Donnie Darko is an emotionally disturbed teenage boy in a mildly dysfunctional upper-middle class family. He is pursued by an imaginary "friend", Frank (someone in a bunny suit with a metallized head), who disturbs his sleep (and soon, his waking hours) to commit acts of mayhem in preparation for a mysterious "end" which is coming in 30 days. Donnie also haps into an interest in time-travel, as he begins to visualize wormholes opening up out of people's chests. The film (and Donnie) bundles along toward an supposedly apocalytpic end, though without revealing anything deeper in the characters, their relationships to each other, or anything resembling an emotion which rings true, with the exception of self-sacrifice. Ridiculous (as in, inviting ridicule) elements of the film include "bullies" at the upper middle class private school who wield knives -- a past-time which would typically invite discipline in the real world. The teenage boys are all cruel for cruelty's sake -- as evidenced by their frequent verbal assaults on people such self- absorbed kids would otherwise not notice. The interest in time- travel is gratuitous, and justifies itself circularly as a plot device, but has no deeper meaning for the film. At best, Donnie realizes redemption by committing his ultimate act of destruction, which is the seed of a creation -- an element foreshadowed early in the film. Nonetheless, a film which lays out its own interpretation within it -- common self-reference -- ain't much better than dull. The movie is a must-see for anyone closely following Jena Malone's career, and wondering what Ms. Barrymore is doing with her Flower Films shingle. After viewing, one might continue to follow Jena Malone's career, and to wonder what Ms. Barrymore is doing with her Flower Films shingle.