interesting, but, ultimately, disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (10 August 2004)

Contains Spoiler Jet engines falling from the sky, a demonic rabbit and a horrible performance by Drew Barrymore are all featured in this semi-weird, slight and unconvincing film.
It's watchable, there's no doubt about that. It's also, from time to time, creepy. DD is also a self-negating film. That in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but, it's Superman-like ending(remember Superman flying around the earth to reverse time to save Lois Lane) cancels out most of the film. If only it could've cancelled out just the parts in which Drew Barrymore appears. Ah, now that would've been something worth applauding.
After watching the film, I found myself thinking about how the writer failed to fully incorporate some of the supporting characters into DD's storyline. The puritanical Kittie Farmer(the one who teaches Donnie and the other boys about FEAR/LOVE)is completely unnecessary. She could've been cut out of the entire film and it wouldn't have made any difference. She doesn't figure in Donnie's story in any significant way. His confrontations with her and Patrick Swayze's informercial creep are forced and irrelevant to the central story - that being Donnie's hallucinations of a demonic rabbit, his obsessions with time travel via Roberta Sparrow and his relationship with the new girl in class(Jena Malone).
Of course, it's clear that the writer/director meant DD also as a satire of Regan-era America. That's all well and good. I agree with his critiques(superficial as they may be)but what, exactly, does all that book banning and info-mercial idiocy have to do with the demonic rabbit's apocalyptic talk or DD's desire to find a way to time travel or his love for the Jena Malone's character? And who cares if Ms. Pomeroy(Drew Barrymore - wow, really bad) loses her job? And what were those two creeps from DD's school doing in Roberta Sparrow's cellar anyway? Apparently waiting for DD and his girlfriend to show-up so they could threaten to kill them and, ultimately, put Jena Malone's character in a place where she would get run over by a car being driven by a guy named Frank in a demonic bunny suit so that DD could then travel back in time and commit suicide to save her.
Another thing - when DD travels back in time and offs himself to save his girlfriend, he also, inadvertently, frees Patrick Swayze's character from jail, which, I guess, means that he can continue viewing his kiddie porn collection. Way to go DD!