I'm an atheist, and this movie was a religious experience

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2005)

Donnie Darko is your typical screwed-up teenager who, through a cosmic accident, becomes the most important person in the universe. After a giant bunny rabbit saves Donnie from being killed by a jet engine that drops through his bedroom, Donnie begins a journey through a "tangent universe", in which he is carefully shepherded into an action to preserve the "real" universe. You must see the Director's Cut in order to have a chance of understanding the circumstances which lead to Donnie's final decision, although many people prefer the ambiguity of the original theatrical release.
The acting in this movie is top notch, which can only be attributed to director/writer Richard Kelly's amazing vision for this story. While there are some similarities to _Fight_Club_ and _Memento_ (for "imaginary" characters and out-of-sequence storytelling), this movie stands alone as the most unique and haunting movie to be released over the past 10 years.