"It's meant to be ironic..."

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2004)

Certainly the plot is up to conjecture--and personal taste will have to determine how successful it ultimately is--but "Donnie Darko" is an intriguing mind-puzzle, oft-times disguised as a desensitized youth movie but one with constant layers of subtext. It is sad that a youth movie today hasn't much to reward us with except depression, destruction and death, yet it's refreshing to see something so challenging, weaving its story carefully and with a stylish spell. I haven't much cared for Jake Gyllenhaal's work in most movies, but here his heavy-lidded stare is used to good effect; he doesn't go full-throttle with the performance, but he does reach in and surprise us with a range of emotions. Drew Barrymore (also a producer) is just the opposite: as one of Donnie's teachers, a free spirit-type, she allows fear to suppress her natural instincts as an actress (how's that for irony?), and nearly every reaction shot of her rings false because she's playing to the camera. The supporting performances seem dead-on, and the picture manages a fine walk between darkly comic and deranged. *** from ****