Donnie Darko (2001)

All Critics (110) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (106) | Rotten (16) | DVD (54)

Kelly is a supple and courageous storyteller, boldly free-associating as he mixes parody and satire with earnest psychodrama and coming up with plot points no one could anticipate.

June 8, 2007 Full Review

Lisa Alspector

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Donnie Darko has plenty of problems. But most stem from a young filmmaker overswinging on his first time up to the plate and hitting a deep fly out rather than a home run.

June 8, 2007 Full Review | Comments (24)

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

Shows plenty of promise, but it's somewhat self-involved and won't appeal to audiences who like a straightforward -- even if fantastical -- narrative.

January 25, 2002 Full Review | Comments (6)

Loren King

Boston Globe

Top Critic

Excitingly original indie vision.

November 6, 2001 Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

A stunning technical accomplishment that virtually bursts with noise, ideas and references.

October 31, 2001 Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir

Salon.com

Top Critic

First-time director-writer Richard Kelly draws on a number of intriguing elements ... without including a single, crucial gem that pulls everything together.

October 26, 2001 Full Review

Melanie McFarland

Seattle Times

Top Critic

An incredibly fascinating, star-making film that never fails to intrigue.

January 29, 2012 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

Donnie Darko is a bit like a teenager: brooding, complex, rebellious, and difficult to comprehend.

December 29, 2011 Full Review

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

The Director's Cut works too hard to explain the mystery behind what really happened to teenage misfit Donnie, while the theatrical one was more mysterious and ambiguous.

September 9, 2011 Full Review

Eric Melin

Scene-Stealers.com

Defines itself through sustained mood, otherworldly intrigue and deep, abiding humanism.

June 20, 2011 Full Review

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

A decidedly weird time-travel drama that puzzled viewers so much that many went back to see it again and again... Unfortunately, Kelly's extended version diminishes the film's impact.

March 10, 2011 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Maybe Richard Kelly's fate is to be the cult-film circuit's Michael Cimino. He has yet to match the mood or magnitude of his debut - a collision of time-travel sci-fi, commentary on '80s malaise and teen angst that's simultaneously witty and poignant.

September 25, 2010 Full Review

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

Winningly edgy teen-angst sci-fi tragicomedy.

December 1, 2009 Full Review

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

A brilliant and truly incredible piece of art that deserves to be watched...

April 29, 2009 Full Review | Comment (1)

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

The film...asks the question: what if the universe as we live it, not just as we theorize it, really isn't as we imagine it? In making the mundane as bottomless as the cosmic, Donnie Darko has the guts to remain a riddle itself.

August 4, 2007 Full Review | Comments (3)

Nick Davis

Nick's Flick Picks

The drowsy surrealism and elaborate inconclusiveness of Donnie Darko will simultaneously guarantee it a rabid cult and put it way off limits to the don't-get-its.

July 30, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

The directors cut of Donnie Darko by Richard Kelly was screened at the Venice Film Festivals a couple of years ago, a film I missed for sure when it was released in 2001 and one of those pearls like Blade Runner that just is haunting screening after scree

July 22, 2007 Full Review

Moira Sullivan

Movie Magazine International

Kelly captures, better than any film in recent memory other than Election, what it feels like to be in high school.

March 30, 2007 | Comment (1)

Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

• 1. Donnie Darko: If God Controlled time, then the time is pre-decided
  – Submitted by Ps J (55 days ago)
• 1. Donnie Darko: I just hope, that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief... because there will be so much to look forward to.
  – Submitted by Jacob M (4 months ago)
• 1. Kitty Farmer: I'll tell you what he said. He asked me to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into my anus.
  – Submitted by Emily H (4 months ago)
• 1. Frank: I've been watching you. Come closer.
  – Submitted by vijeyta R (4 months ago)
• 1. Donnie Darko: Chapter 7: The manipulated living will do anything to save themselves from oblivion.
  – Submitted by Will M (5 months ago)
• 1. Ricky Danforth: Didn't your dad like... stab your mom?
  – Submitted by Oliver K (5 months ago)

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