Donnie DarkoMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 88 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Christian Science Monitor | David Sterritt

    The director's cut of this 2001 cult fantasy is a deliriously subtle exploration of storytelling possibilities, and a deliciously wry teen-pic to boot. Brilliant. Read full review

  • 100
    Village Voice | Dennis Lim

    Obsessives will be familiar with the "new" material (almost all available on the original DVD), which elaborates on the time-travel metaphysics and tightens the emotional screws. Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) shares one additional tender exchange with each family member Read full review

  • 100
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Thomas

    “Donnie Darko" was one of the best pictures released in 2001. Now that it has returned in a 20-minute longer--and richer -- director's cut, it seems sure to be ranked as one of the key American films of the decade. Read full review

  • 91
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Kelly, the 26-year-old writer-director of this excitingly original indie vision, shares more artistically with Wes Anderson or Paul Thomas Anderson than he does with Spielberg or John Hughes, but the point is, he's out on his own here. He swings big -- with flair. Read full review

  • 90
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    If Kelly felt it necessary to add the new material, that's all to the good. It just means there's more to love. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Jan Stuart

    If you let it be what it is, Donnie Darko will knock you flat. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The director's cut adds footage that enriches and extends the material but doesn't alter its tone. It adds footnotes that count down to a deadline, but without explaining the nature of the deadline or the usefulness of the countdown. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    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. Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Donnie Darko is the one that got away. But it was fun trying to land it. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    It's this compulsion to solder melancholy to weightlessness that constantly trips up the movie; Mr. Kelly doesn't have the assurance to pull off such a difficult feat. Read full review

View more reviews for Donnie Darko on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Winningly edgy teen-angst sci-fi tragicomedy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that much swearing (from all ages) and sex talk represents the generally anti-establishment viewpoint of the hero here: an angry, possibly mentally ill teen. Classroom vandalism (apparently committed by the hero under some sort of spell) and profane disrespect of teachers and authority-figure adults is part of the plot, and not exactly frowned upon. There is teen sex (non-explicit), references to pornography, and violent death at the end.
  • Families can talk about what in the twisty plot 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?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: We never get clinical details info on Donnie's emotional instability -- he may be delusionally schizophrenic, a defiant kid mistreated by The System, or both -- but the film is clearly on his side, as a smart and unappreciated boy. More than it is on the side of the people he scorns and hurts, like an upbeat gym teacher or a gung-ho motivational speaker. Donnie (possibly in a trance state) commits vandalism and sabotage and even murder, though you can argue that he sacrifices himself in the end to undo all that and save others. Donnie's parents, despite all the family and social dysfunction, have a solid and loving relationship.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: A character fatally shot in the eye (appearing in bloody, ghostly form). Another character fatally run over by an automobile. Fistfights between teens, knife pulled on the hero. Gore is more extreme on the DVD "extras" and the Director's Cut.
  • sex false3 Sex: Donnie and his new girlfriend have sex, though nothing is shown. Discussion of sex and (non-clinical) child pornography. A nude woman in a painting briefly glimpsed.
  • language false3 Language: "F--k," "s--t," and "bitch" (son says this to his mother).
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: There is an obscene teen discussion of the sex life of Smurfs (Donnie turns out to be a huge fan). A plug for the Stephen Hawking book A Brief History of Time and a certain national video-store chain.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Teens and adults smoke cigarettes. Donnie is supposed to take prescription pills for his emotional problems.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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