Donnie Darko

Alright, so I didn’t see a new movie. But I did watch an old one some have seen and some have not. Donnie Darko is the kind of movie if you say you haven’t seen it, many people will say, “What!? You have to see it! I can’t believe you haven’t seen it!” I hate when people do that. And they only do it about movies in that art/indie/satire genre. Movies that will garner such responses include but are not limited to; Memento, Reservoir Dogs, Clerks, Requiem for a Dream, The Royal Tenebaums (and really any Wes Anderson movie), and many many more. Now, I like some of those movies, but what I don’t like is feeling forced to like them, especially by some pseudo-hip cult that insists that these are the greatest movies ever. I have been known to lie and say I hate films that I sincerely like in the face of such phony filmophiles. I digress.

Darko is great example of this genre. It is, at its core, an entertaining flick. It is funny, creepy, and engaging. It also left me wanting to study time travel. Whenever I finish a movie and start researching it on the iternet I know it did something right. I liked Gyllenhall’s performance as one of the creepiest fictional high school kids since Carey. Drew Barrymore (the movie's exeutive producer) gives a mediocre performance as the idealistic English teacher. Noah Wylie (ER) gives a much stronger perfomance as her boyfriend and fellow "greater good" fighting science teacher. Why isn't he in more films? Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing) spreads his acting wings and delivers strongly as a sleazy motivational speaker. Who knew Swayze could be funny?

However, something about the film’s dramatic climax left me unsatisfied. I was confused. After watching the DVD’ extras I learned there were some crucial scenes deleted. Scenes that would have helped me understand a lot more about Donnie. That is inexcusable. The movie needed to either drop some themes or make the movie about an hour longer. Ultimately, I would still absolutely recommend the film because it’s better than 90% of the other crap out there.

I give it 4 out of 5 chief heads: