I originally ignored Donnie Darko when it was released to theaters in 2001 because it received such bad reviews and looked, from the previews at least, to be another teen angst drama with a psychological spin.  When I stumbled across it in Blockbuster recently and actually read what it was about, I was still undecided.  It was either going to be an interesting movie or was going to be a total waste of time — but it was impossible to tell from the reviews and the movie description itself.  I was going to spend the day doing chores anyway, so it seemed less like a waste of the $3 to rent it as long as it filled the time between loads of laundry, vacuuming, cleaning house, doing dishes and so on.

Filling time was not how it worked out.

This movie is actually quite good — dare I say excellent.  I was instantly drawn into the story and held there until it was over.

Donnie Darko is difficult to classify in any particular genre of movie because it covers so much territory and is stunningly original.  It could be a psychological thriller, science fiction, mystery, horror, teen angst, family drama, teen comedy, cultural satire… I could go on, but it’s easier to say that it obliterates the lines between those genres while remaining a wild, entertaining ride from start to finish.

Full of emotional and tonal complexity, the movie is impossible to predict — something most movies fail at miserably.  The lack of anticipatory content makes you think throughout the film and keeps you riveted in an attempt to understand what is happening, to unravel the mystery which surrounds Donnie Darko’s life (as played by Jake Gyllenhaal of October Sky fame, another most excellent film).

Is he a troubled teen?  Is he a psychopath in his early developmental years?  Is he somehow caught up in some physics experiment gone wrong?  Is he a time traveler?  a murderer?  a troubled teen?  a monster?  Therein lies the mystery of Donnie Darko — it’s impossible to know precisely what is happening.  Even at the end you are left to wonder if what you have seen is the dream of a brilliant but possibly schizophrenic young man or if, as he so desperately wishes, is real and he has, through physics, managed to reverse time.

Drew Berrymore, Noah Wyle, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Jena Mallone and a host of other stars play amazingly diverse characters in Donnie’s life, roles played with unexpected complexity.  Each participant in Donnie’s life is ultimately impacted by what is happening to him and, relative to his experiences, happening to all those around him.  The impact seems to ripple out from Jake’s character and rocks the foundation of every life involved.

Great kudos go out to Jake Gyllenhaal for giving a stunning, riveting performance as Donnie Darko.  He plays the role with such depth that even his body language seems mentally unbalanced as it demonstrates from moment to moment the troubled mental state of his character.  You can see the change in personalities, before he even speaks, through in-curving shoulders, questioning eyes, uncertain smiles — all of which reveal a vast, searching intelligence troubled by what it sees and hears and, possibly, imagines.

There is sorrow in this story.  There is comedy.  There is hope and hopelessness.  As I said before, this movie is spectacularly complex.

The acting is astounding, the story riveting, and the characters rich and multifarious.  The film effortlessly and seamlessly combines disparate and bizarre elements into a single whole, resulting in a very unusual and fantastic film.

Donnie Darko makes you think.  It makes you wonder.  It’s highly intelligent and challenging — which certainly explains why the critics and American public hated it.

I’ll be adding this movie to my collection, and I strongly recommend you see it.