Vote Dukakis

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2003)

A friend of mine called and said, "You've got to check out this flick, Donnie Darko. I don't know what I think, and I want your opinion. It has this talking rabbit that really creeps me out."
I like creepy films. I checked it out. But, I was expecting to see some twisted Bugs Bunny cartoon. I was expecting to feel like the moldy pretzel I become after seeing a Lynch film. Donnie Darko made perfect sense to me. I was not confused. I was not creeped out. I did not feel twisted. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I felt...enlightened.
I was shocked in the best way from the beginning of Donnie Darko through the end. Somehow I immediately knew that it was going to be a great film. It was no twisted Bugs Bunny cartoon, that is for sure. It was beautiful. Seriously beautiful.
For anyone who spends a great deal of time contemplating life, death, love, spirituality, all of that happy crappy, this film is basically one of the best life, death, love, spirituality conversations you've ever had. Take your most imaginative, insightful friend on four cups of coffee, give him two hours to rant and rave, and you might come close to having an experience similar to watching Donnie Darko.
And the eighties! Ah, if you've been dying for something serious to evoke nostalgia of your childhood (assuming you were a child of the eighties) this is great. So many films set in the eighties are so corny. Sure, the eighties may have been corny. But, I remember a whole lot of seriousness in there as well. The Dukakis/Bush election. I'm thinking "Vote Dukakis" was once written on a marker board on MY refrigerator.
Bottom line. Don't be frightened if you hear this is a film with a creepy talking rabbit. It's really not a creepy film. It's a thought-provoking film that reminds the viewer that confusion can be quite blissful.
Oh, and yay, America! I mean, seriously, it has been forever since I've seen an American film that really grabbed me. Finally!