It's just a very enjoyable movie

Rating: Null/10 (1 June 2004)

I'll start this review off by using one of my favorite movie dialogue quotes, this one from "Repo Man": "People get so hung up on specifics that they miss out on the whole thing." There are people scratching their heads left and right, arguing about whether "Donnie Darko" is a cult film, an art film, a horror movie, a teen-angst movie, a fantasy, a self-important, overrated piece of crap, an underrated classic, blah, blah, blah, and, etc., and etc. (I know this very well, I've found myself to be one of them. :> ). Anyhoo, regardless of whether anyone can pigeonhole this movie or no (especially the jerks out there who call any fan of this movie an idiot and a sucker), this is a great movie. If you have to categorize it and slap on a label on it, why don't we say it's almost everything? This film is full of moving emotional intensity, regardless of genre association or whatever else. It has a lot of truthful things to say, and, despite what some think, it's no teenybopper flick either. The sign of angst is not illustrated in this film by Donnie (played DAMN WELL by Jake Gyllenhaal) looking out from under hair, okay? That's the sign of someone on the verge of complete madness! Get it right! And that one feature on its own does not illustrate this alone, either, because this is well-written, well-acted, and all-around WELL-MADE. If it hurts your head to figure out what's underneath it all, let your mind go and watch it as a MOVIE. Chances are you'll still enjoy it, if you're not looking for a reason to condemn it.
This is one of the most moving, entertaining, and deep films to come out during the past few years, and it is one of the few non-schlock movies of recent times that I actually give more than a flying squirrel's ass about. Some say there's nothing deep and thoughtful about this. Again, people get hung up on specifics. Anyone who knows what it's like to be a teenager in the US should see that this movie has depth, especially since it's not one of those "Heathers" rip-offs. As far as Frank the bunny rabbit, doesn't anyone see that this character is not from the far-off future? Who in the HELL came up with that one? This guy looks to me like he has very much in common with Donnie. I think he is a tortured, young artist who stumbled upon the truth in an unexplained way. (And, believe me, with many movies, including this one, some explanations are BETTER LEFT UNEXPLAINED.) I think that, somehow, he saw something in Donnie that was very important to him, so he wanted to pass his knowledge on to Donnie. Does it make sense that way? Well, this movie is mainly about very unstable people and their personal demons. When the characters you care about are unstable, the movie is unstable, as well as the message. So it will make sense to some, but not everyone. In any case, it certainly makes more since than Frank being from the year 3000, or some garbage like that! Anyway, I love this film, even as I understand that it simultaneously begs to be read into and isn't easily read into at all. Regardless, "Donnie Darko" is one of the best movies ever made, and no one should be called a moron for enjoying it.