‎Donnie Darko (2001) directed by Richard Kelly • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Donnie Darko

2001 Directed by Richard Kelly

You can never go too far

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Jake Gyllenhaal Jena Malone Patrick Swayze Maggie Gyllenhaal Drew Barrymore Beth Grant Holmes Osborne Daveigh Chase Mary McDonnell James Duval Arthur Taxier Katharine Ross Patience Cleveland David St. James Jazzie Mahannah Jolene Purdy David Moreland Noah Wyle Kristina Malota Marina Malota Scotty Leavenworth Phyllis Lyons Gary Lundy Alex Greenwald Stuart Stone Joan Blair Seth Rogen Mark Hoffman Jerry Trainor Show All…

114 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Katie ★★★★★ 13

that scene where donnie tells ms. farmer to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into her anus is why Jake Gyllenhaal is the greatest actor of all time.
Review by Grooveman ★★★★★ 7

"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion."
Review by brat pitt ★★★★★ 14

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

yo donnie darko he was just 16 when he found a very strange book to read
it was all about a realm unseen
(he's gonna save the world cause he's donnie darko)
when a bunny named frank showed up to assist
donnie darko decided to follow it
there was a great big crash and everything changed
his mental health got all rearranged
when he first woke up he realized
that frank the bunny had saved his life
he could see people's fates, futures, & time
he was much more emo than the other guys
it was then donnie knew what he had to do
he had to let the jet engine fall through his roof
he's here to die for me and you
he's gonna save the world cause he's donnie darko
gonna save the world cause he's donnie darko
gonna save the world cause he's *whispers* donnie darko
Review by Katie ★★★★★ 7

the most unrealistic thing about this movie is that no one but two people would show up for an evil dead screening on halloween??? sounds REALLY fake but okay
Review by Lucy ★★★★★ 8

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

“so what do i tell the other kids when they ask about you?”

“tell them that everything is gonna be just fine”

donnie darko is still maybe the most brilliant movie i’ve yet to see in my lifetime. on the surface it can be cold and achingly confusing, weaving a plot that hardly leaves dots to even connect. but peeling back it’s layers, reading lengthy articles, rewatching it again and again and again, it proves to be a sickly sweet treasure for the right people who view it at the right time and feel the right way about it

there are so many ways to interpret it and so many things to take away from it. a dark high school…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 9

95/100

"The search for God is absurd?"

"It is if everyone dies alone."

"Does that scare you?"

"I don't want to be alone."

Such a knockout combination of flavors and tones, genres and influences that it's hard to believe how coherent it all is. Portals expand though the screen of The Evil Dead as a heavenly choir soars within the soundscape. Elementary schoolgirls dance seductively in talent shows, taught by the 'teacher's pet' of a spiritual healer with a dark secret. Nightmares intermingle with the sleepy High School environments of endless houses and endless types of people who we've known. It's a movie where 'sparkle motion' is on the same plane of importance as deluded heroism and schizophrenia, and it's…

Recent reviews

Review by Rahul Raj ★★★★½

"Cellar door". It was a new information for me :)
Review by Fernanda ★★★½

It's crazy how I'll never understand anything about this movie and enjoying it
Review by Jacob ★★★★★

The only Halloween movie that matters.
Review by rosborn ★★★

Huh?
Review by izzy ★★★★

I've heard people say that the ending of this mindblowing movie is open to interpretation, but isn't the fact that donnie knew the jet engine was coming his way and faced his death to avoid creating another tangent universe in which gretchen and frank would die the obvious explanation?
Review by Brian Scofield

This one holds up.
Review by notjosiahd. 🎃 2

If anybody has an explanation for this movie, hmu in the comments

Just when I thought I had it, I realized that there was one event that rendered my theory useless..and....if I can ever understand a fraction of this I might be able to muster some words to describe it. On the surface, I seems like your typical filmbro flick—dark and brooding, with some nice pretentious nonsense to make it appealing, but honestly this is probably one of the most intelligent movies I've ever seen.

Maybe somebody from the future wanted me to watch this so they got me to watch Lost, which is surprisingly similar, especially S6.

Wow. This movie is honestly so mind-blowing.
Review by Michael Toler ★★★★

*hits blunt*

"Time paradox, man"

*Hits blunt again*
Review by FecalWater ★★★

Dont know my people love this movie so much. Its just ok and nothing special.