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Review: Donnie Darko (2001)
By vrtualme | September 14, 2008
Honestly, the first time I watched Donnie Darko (2001) I didn’t get what all the hype was about. But then I didn’t know it was about a schizophrenic time-traveler. Now, on my second watching last night, it makes much more sense and I was able to really enjoy it. By reading the imdb trivia page you can see that this was an extremely well thought out movie by writer/director Richard Kelly (Domino 2005). Maybe a little too thought out, as much is missed on first, or even second, viewing. In my opinion the best way to see this film is to just let it ‘be’ and don’t try to figure it out. 
Casting consists of Jake Gyllenhaal (Oscar nominee for Brokeback Mountain 2005) and his real-life sister Maggie Gyllenhaal (two time golden globe nominee for Secretary 2002 and SherryBaby 2006) with their parents played by Holmes Osborne (A Carol Christmas 2003) and Mary McDonnell (two time Oscar nominee for Dances with Wolves 1990 and Passion Fish 1992). In the roles of teachers were Noah Wyle (during the height of his career on “ER”), Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men 2007) and Drew Barrymore. Making their first on-screen appearances were Seth Rogen (Knocked Up 2007) and Jolene Purdy 
(who left a good impression on me in the premiere of “Do Not Disturb”). Other notables were Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing 1987) as the self-help guru, Katharine Ross (Oscar nominee for The Graduate 1967) as the psychiatrist, Jena Malone (The United States of Leland 2003) as the girlfriend and James Duval (Gone in Sixty Seconds 2000) as frank the 6 foot tall rabbit. And no review of this movie would be complete without mentioning the killer 80’s soundtrack that included old favorites like “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen and “Mad World” performed by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. Here’s the official website, the wikipedia page and the trailer…
Post-note: in 2009 Newmarket Capital Group is releasing a sequel titled S. Darko that picks up 7 years later with Donnie’s little sister. Fans are less than happy about this.