Common Sense Media Review
By Charles Cassady Jr.
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Winningly edgy teen-angst sci-fi tragicomedy.
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Donnie Darko
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 21 parent reviews
Parents say this movie can be a captivating experience for older children and teens capable of understanding complex themes, but caution is advised due to some violent and mature content. While many appreciate its artistic storytelling and encouragement for critical thinking, some find it creepy and not engaging enough, highlighting that it requires attention and discussion for full appreciation.
- entertaining for teens
- complex themes
- mature content
- requires attention
- artistic storytelling
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 88 kid reviews
Kids say this film is a richly complex and intriguing exploration of teenage angst, identity, and mental health, although it is often described as confusing and unsettling. While the film does contain mature themes, such as violence and sexual references, many reviewers argue that it is not as inappropriate as rated, suggesting that it could be suitable for a mature teen audience.
- complex themes
- mature content
- less graphic than rated
- not for young kids
- requires multiple viewings
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
In a cozy affluent suburb in October, 1988, DONNIE DARKO (Jake Gyllenhaal), a rebellious teen, smart but diagnosed with mental illness and sort of a misfit at school, is lured from his bedroom by a phantom wearing a grotesque, metal-masked rabbit costume. The rabbit, "Frank," tells him exactly when the world will end -- in 28 days. Meanwhile a shattering series of events disrupt Donnie's already-unsteady world, including young love with a new girl at school. A plane engine falls out of nowhere onto his house, a sympathetic English teacher (Drew Barrymore) is punished for her choice of literature in the class, a youth-mentoring positive-thinking guru (Patrick Swayze) brainwashes the community, visions of wormlike appendages emerge from people's chests, and a neighborhood crazy lady turns out to be an ex-nun scientist who researched time-travel and metaphysical cause-effect paradoxes. Got all that? More menacing visits from "Frank" the rabbit lead to a Halloween night revelation, and Donnie realizing his pivotal role in this weird, interconnected web of destiny.
Is It Any Good?
This movie was embraced as a genuinely oddball "cult" item almost instantly upon its unsuccessful theatrical release. Like most cult movies, Donnie Darko works well on numerous levels -- as a brainy piece of science-fiction, an ominous psychological thriller, a satire on suburban values, or a tragic drama of a doomed young rebel. If anything it goes a little overboard in making adults (especially teachers/faculty) look cowed or cravenly stupid compared with the unstable but intellectually brilliant Donnie, well played by Gyllenhaal as a guy who can be likeable, sympathetic, and scary all at once.
Though Donnie -- sometimes in a trance-state, sometimes consciously -- commits vandalism and lashes out, he's smart enough to sense the eerie time-warp pattern behind all the odd goings-on. And he's heroic enough to make a Christ-like sacrifice at the end, for the good of everyone else, when the "end of the world" comes. Though it's possible he never had a choice -- just the insight. But by making their hero a classic underdog teen trying to come to grips with society, rather than an adult, the filmmakers created a far more poignant tragi-comic-coming-of-age-giant-skull-faced-rabbit-horror drama. Can you name a better one?
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what in the twisty plot of Donnie Darko is "real" or not, and whether the "philosophy of time travel" holds up. Could this whole story all be the result of delusional Donnie not taking his medication, as his family complains at the start? Did Donnie ever have control over the events that unfold?
Movie Details
- In theaters : October 10, 2001
- On DVD or streaming : February 4, 2003
- Cast : Drew Barrymore , Jake Gyllenhaal , Jena Malone
- Director : Richard Kelly
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Bisexual Movie Actor(s) , Pansexual Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
- Genre : Science Fiction
- Run time : 113 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : language, some drug use and violence
- Last updated : January 15, 2026
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