Donnie Darko (2001) Jake Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze Movie Review

Donnie Darko (2001)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Donnie Darko (2001)

To Be Frank, WTF!

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled young man; he is in therapy, takes meds, calls his mother a bitch and is prone to sleep walking at night and after meeting an imaginary rabbit wakes up in various places. After waking up on a golf course he wanders home to find his house surrounded by people and police as a plane crash landed and an engine smashed into the building.

Any movie which you need to go looking for a freaking explanation on the internet for is not good. A movie should not be that far out there that you either need to be stoned to understand it or need someone else to explain it to you. Now I have endured "Donnie Darko" now four times and each time it left me bewildered and thinking I must be the biggest moron on the planet to not only not get the movie but not get what others see in this movie to rate it so highly. After the third time a friend told me to watch the extras and in particular Time Travel Book which I did and the movie became a little clearer but not much.

So what can I say about "Donnie Darko"? Well one, don't feel inferior if you don't get it because there are a lot of people who don't and as such don't get why others think it is great. On that note if you ever meet someone who says "Donnie Darko" is great ask them to explain it because I have experiences many people who say it is great and yet can't explain why having gone along for the ride to seem cool by agreeing with the others.

Aside from that well "Donnie Darko" is well acted and it has some dark humour such as having a character called Jim Cunningham. It also certainly creates a curious atmosphere and at times is unsettling. But none of that matters if the movie doesn't work for the audience and leaves them thinking what in hell has just done on.

What this all boils down to is that "Donnie Darko" didn't do it for me and trust me I have given it more than enough chances to appeal and to work.


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