Donnie Darko is derivative

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2001)

Donnie Darko is what? That's what the filmmakers want people
to be asking each other. An air of mystery surrounds the ad
campaign. Is Donnie Darko a troubled high school boy? Is he the
demonic, shadowy character depicted on the poster? Is he a hero,
or a loser?
Elements of all those things are in Donnie Darko, who is
personified by Jake Gyllenhall ("October Sky"). Gyllenhall is the
real standout here, managing to portray this difficult, mostly
unlikable character with commendable depth.
And "depth" is what this movie thinks it's all about. What lies
beneath the veneer of American suburbia? Donnie is in psychotherapy, and even though he takes medication he still has
disturbing hallucinations involving "Frank", a big bunny-man who
looks like a cross between Harvey, the Jackalope, and Satan, and
who tells him the world will end in 28 days. Donnie's lackluster
new girlfriend, Gretchen (Jena Malone, "Stepmom"), is living under
some sort of witness protection program ("Gretchen" is not her
real name), hiding from her psychotic dad, who stabbed her mom
four times in the chest. Donnie's clean-cut science teacher, Dr.
Monnitoff (Noah Wylie, "A Few Good Men"), secretly believes in
time travel, and the possibility of such via random wormholes. Jim
Cunningham (Patrick Swayze, "The Green Dragon") is a freakishly
loving, kindly, and understanding self-help guru, whose fancy
mansion seems very out of place in the small, middleclass town.
There are lots of interesting characters (and some not so
interesting due to underdevelopment) and the plot does raise
some thought-provoking questions. Too bad it answers them far
too quickly. I saw the ending, which I imagine was supposed to
have major impact, coming almost right from the beginning (one
line of dialog could have been deleted to prevent this). I told myself
that maybe it didn't matter, since this film is obviously intended for
teenagers. But that's not fair; "talking down" to an audience is
never an excuse for not paying attention to detail.
If this movie was intended to be your typical teen flick, I'd cut it a lot
more slack -- but the director (first-timer Richard Kelly, who also
wrote the screenplay) wants you to believe Donnie Darko is "the
story of Holden Caulfield, resurrected in 1988 by the spirit of Phillip
K. Dick." Therefore, it must be held to a higher standard than
American Pie 2.
There seems to be no reason to set this film in the 1980's (except
that it's the era in which the director himself was a teen), and there
are lots of strange things with dates that don't pan out. The 28
days thing, for example -- is that supposed to signify the menstrual
period? After all, blood is spilt on the 28th day. It's never really
defined, though.
Although it claims to be very original, much of Donnie Darko is
derivative. First there's the six-foot bunny following the main
character, which no one else can see; then there are absolute
copies of the water-creatures from "The Abyss" floating around;
and there's the absurd, but oh-so-hip Tarantinoesque dialog
section, in which Donnie and his friends discuss whether or not
Smurfette is getting it on with the other Smurfs.
Photographed by Steven Poster (who won an ASC Award for his
work on Ridley Scott's "Someone to Watch Over Me," and whose
work is usually quite good), Donnie Darko is not only dark and
harshly shadowed (Drew Barrymore, who plays an English
teacher, looks like a ghoul in one bright sunlight / deep shadow
scene), but there's also an awful, dull flatness to it all. One scene,
apparently shot "day for night" is particularly bad.
There are certain elements in Donnie Darko that work, and there
are some flashes of meaning here and there. Richard Kelly might
be a director to watch for -- maybe Donnie Darko is just a rough
draft. But it's much too rough to be anything more.