Please don't call it American Beauty...

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2001)

When I went to relieve my aching bladder about 20 minutes ago, i was in the bathroom of a movie theater and Donnie Darko had just ended. This girl in the stall next to me was yabbering to her friend, "Oh, that movie was So Good!! It was like a.... um... (thinking 'really hard' here for something profound).. dark, twisted American Beauty!"
My, my. How profound. Always good to impress your friends by repeating what all the critics are saying.
I enjoyed Donnie Darko, but I'm not sure it just wasn't because I got to stare at Jake G____ for two hours. (yum) A lot of the effects used were kinda schlocky, and the ending made you think the director wanted it to be one of those movies where something big and crazy happens and the audience leaves with their lifes changed and ready to save the world. (American Beauty?) But it wasn't like that.. the plot was really contrived at times, and you're not sure what the director's trying to say with all of it.

It just seems like a real shame that Richard Kelly had to mix all the supergood character-interaction scenes that he is obviously good at with a gargantuan plot attempt that was just way out of the movie's reach. Cheers to the director on the dementia stuff, though. See this movie, watch it for the dialogue, watch it for the 80s references, close your eyes at the Drew Barrymore parts (ick) and watch Jake Gwhatever rock the house with his believable acting and unbelievable hotness. I'm off to buy Bubble Boy.