Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘Donnie Darko’?
Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko (2001)

tomatometer

85

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 108
Fresh: 92 | Rotten: 16

Richard Kelly's debut feature Donnie Darko is a daring, original vision, packed with jarring ideas and intelligence and featuring a remarkable performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled title character.

65

Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 6

Richard Kelly's debut feature Donnie Darko is a daring, original vision, packed with jarring ideas and intelligence and featuring a remarkable performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as the troubled title character.

audience

77

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 29,532,807

My Rating

Movie Info

Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright and charming high-school student who also has a dark and willfully eccentric side; he does little to mask his contempt for many of his peers and enjoys challenging the authority of the adults around him. Donnie is also visited on occasion by Frank, a monstrous six-foot rabbit that only Donnie can see who often urges him to perform dangerous and destructive pranks. Late one night, Frank leads Donnie out of his home to inform him that the world will come to an

Mar 19, 2002

Newmarket Film Group

Cast

All Critics (108) | Top Critics (17) | 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 Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop 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 Source: Variety | Comments (17)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop 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 Source: Boston Globe | Comments (5)
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Excitingly original indie vision.

November 6, 2001 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

October 31, 2001 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If this movie ever figured out what it wanted to be when it grows up, it would be a terrific one.

October 26, 2001 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comments (10)
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

January 29, 2012 Full Review Source: IGN DVD | Comment
IGN DVD

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

December 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
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 Source: Scene-Stealers.com | Comment
Scene-Stealers.com

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

June 20, 2011 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
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 Source: Movie Talk | Comment (1)

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 Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

Winningly edgy teen-angst sci-fi tragicomedy.

December 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

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

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment (1)
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 Source: Nick's Flick Picks | Comments (3)
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 Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment
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 Source: Movie Magazine International | Comment
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)
KPBS.org

In its metaphysical concerns and challenging notions about personal and social responsibility, the film aims much higher than most American youth pictures.

June 13, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Donnie Darko's flaws, though, are those of a young, talented filmmaker reaching beyond his current grasp. That's a more forgivable sin than soulless excess or hubris-fueled incompetence.

April 6, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Donnie Darko

A beautiful, Complex, mind bending film. Donnie Darko is so different strange and fantastic it may require multiple viewings to really get behind this film. Jake Gyleenhall is yet again fantastic as "Donnie", the soundtrack is also fantastic. A near perfect directional debut from Richard Kelly. While it may off flopped

April 10, 2012
Joseph Mcnicholas

Super Reviewer

excellent

March 15, 2007
superclerk25

Super Reviewer

    1. Donnie Darko: What's the point of living if every living creature dies alone?
    – Submitted by Karim K (8 days ago)
    1. Donnie Darko: I think you're the fucking Antichrist.
    – Submitted by Hunter E (11 days ago)
    1. Karen Pomeroy: I don't think that you have a clue what it's like to communicate with these kids. We are losing them to apathy... to this prescribed nonsense. They are slipping away.
    – Submitted by Caillan B (15 days ago)
    1. Donnie Darko: I don't want to be alone...
    – Submitted by Dylan B (31 days ago)
    1. Donnie Darko: You are such a fuck ass.
    2. Elizabeth Darko: Did you just call me a fuck ass? You can go suck a fuck!
    3. Donnie Darko: Tell me Elizabeth, how exactly does one suck a fuck?
    – Submitted by J P (33 days ago)

Latest News for Donnie Darko

February 17, 2011:
Richard Kelly Heads for Corpus Christi
Richard Kelly's next project will be "Corpus Christi," a thriller about "an unstable Iraq war vet...

September 21, 2010:
Six One-Hit Wonder Directors of the Modern Era
Directing a great movie is hard -- and just because you've done it once, that's no guarantee you'll...

What's Hot On RT

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray
RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

Red Tails, This Means War

The Words
The Words

Trailer: In bed with Zoe and Bradley

Amazing Spider-Man
Amazing Spider-Man

Video: Your friendly four minute preview

The We and the I
The We and the I

Latest trailer from Michel Gondry

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 21,944 taken
created 15 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 53,194 taken
created 19 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 32,332 taken
created 19 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 32,913 taken
created 18 months ago
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile