Stunning, unique, intriguing--and not everyone's cup of tea

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2004)

There are countless reviews of this movie stating that Donnie Darko is "the best movie of my generation," "the best movie ever made," etc. I agree with these people, but only for myself. Stunning as the imagery is, compelling as the storyline is, believable as the characters are, this movie just isn't everybody's cup of tea. My sister and I (I'm 19, she's 17) loved the movie.
The Sci-Fi type group at my college loves it. My dad thought it was okay, and we can't convince my mom to watch it with us; it really might be a generation gap, I'm not sure. Now, that having been said, I'll get on to a real review of the movie.
Donnie Darko truly is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The acting in it is great--Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character, Donnie, is detached but likable. Drew Barrymore really surprised me as the English teacher; she wasn't in the movie for long, but you got to like her a lot (but, in all fairness, I may be biased--I'm getting a degree in secondary education, with English as the focus).
The character that's the most surprising, other than Donnie himself, is Frank. Frank is a demonic bunny. We're not talking small, fuzzy animal that hops through the fields and is sold in countless petshops across the world, though. This guy looks like a school mascot or something--blue, tall, and with one *scary* face. His voice is low and distorted, and it may take a repeat viewing or two to understand everything he says. It's worth it, though--I can assure you that every time you watch this movie, you notice something new.
I don't want to risk giving anything away in the movie, so I won't do a summary of it--read all the other ones here. Instead, I recommend that if you like the movie, you go to the official website: it's full of a ton of extras that help flesh out the movie and explain the confusing bits. It's an extremely well-designed site, and it's actually *fun* to navigate it.
Overall, this is an intelligent, engrossing movie. I give it an 8 out of 10, but if you are in the mood for a movie that doesn't require you to think, don't watch this one.