Wow! A real refrigerator talk film

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2010)

Hitchcock used to talk about moviegoers who would come home, take some cold chicken out of the icebox, and talk about what they'd just seen. He called it refrigerator talk. Well, in the computer age, "Donnie Darko" engenders a lot more than refrigerator talk. One can find endless discussion of this film on the Internet.
On the face of it, Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a schizophrenic teen on and off his meds. He takes orders from a giant bunny rabbit. Remember "Harvey?" This is "Harvey" standing on its big bunny ears - not a benign, invisible friend, but an evil-looking rabbit ordering Donnie to commit acts that cause chaos and even death.
So is this is a wormhole movie, an indictment on the public school system (as the director says), or the story of a deeply disturbed young man with strange dreams? I don't know. Whatever it is, "Donnie Darko" is a very provocative film and well worth viewing. It also has a great soundtrack that includes the intriguing song "Mad World" - the Adam Lambert version of this song plays on "General Hospital" every time James Franco walks on camera.
Gyllenhaal is ably supported by Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jenna Malone, and Noah Wylie.
See it for yourself and make your own decisions: schizophrenic, dreamer, time traveler, all three - or something else? A fascinating film.