Donnie Darko: Jake Gyllenhaal	Gretchen: Jena Malone
Dr. Monnitoff: Noah Wyle	Ms. Pomeroy: Drew Barrymore
Rose Darko: Mary McDonnell	Samantha Darko: Daveigh Chase
Jim Cunningham: Patrick Swayze	Cherita: Jolene Purdy
Frank: James Duval	Director: Richard Kelly

30 Second Bottom Line: A teenage boy, in counseling for his psychological problems and taking medication, may have an alternate reality that allows him to time travel and change events in the past and/or the future.

Story Line: Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a high school student whose life is saved by his vision of a person obviously wearing a rabbit outfit with a weird and twisted rabbit mask ready to do some serious trick or treating on Halloween. This bunny is no Harvey, a six-foot invisible rabbit seen only by Jimmy Stewart's character in the 1950 film of the same name. Along with the teasing he gets from his school mates and the counseling sessions, which cause his shrink to reconsider the pros and cons honoring doctor/patient confidentiality, Donnie has a romantic interest in a new girl in town, Gretchen (Jena Malone). Combine that with the terrifying voice and vision of his rabbit pal, encouraging him to ever greater acts of violence, and Donnie has the information he needs to make decisions that will alter the outcome of his life as well as others.

Situations inspired by self help guru Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), which Donnie observes, and a gym teacher with a misguided sense of morality, help make a difference in connecting the dots of life to make informed decisions that one does not live to regret.

Tell Me More About It: I was engaged with most of the film's considerable special effects, other than the main one-the giant rabbit. To me that character would have been more effective in creating the dream-state that Donnie is in if it was clearly a distortion of his imagination and not played so obviously by a human actor. Possibly the biggest sin of the film is that it is a little too long. The scenes with the schoolteacher portrayed by Drew Barrymore appear to be there more to give her some screen time, bring more people to the theater and because she is the executive producer. For me those scenes do not advance the story, if anything, they drag it out a bit because it is not clear what the point is. The film ends on a strong note as it does answer quite clearly why certain things happened and it conveys the ability to time travel, which always peaks an audience's curiosity.

There are a number of lingering thoughts such as what are we to make of the character Cherita (Jolene Purdy), an Asian American, who may or may not be of Chinese ancestry. Donnie allegedly gives her some level of comfort by telling her that things will be better "next time." Cherita is overweight and is made fun of because she is Asian; some boys tell her to "go back to China." When she does her classical interpretive dance solo in a school play she is booed. Next up is Donnie's younger sister Samantha (Daveigh Chase) dancing with a group called Sparkle Motion, who get rave reviews for a pre-pubescent Britney Spears inspired performance. Cherita captures the essence of what being a minority really means-tokenism, someone you can call a name meant to hurt, benign neglect-being ignored.

Donnie Darko is a movie that deserves a greater audience than it will likely achieve. It's also a film that may connect with teenagers more so than with this writer, who is a grandfather. When one is in high school, one often feels like they are on another planet. The difference here is that Donnie is and he knows what to do about it to make the world a better place.

Jake Gyllenhaal: October Sky	Jena Malone: Life as a House
Noah Wyle: White Oleander	Drew Barrymore: Riding in Cars with Boys
Mary McDonnell: Mumford	Daveigh Chase: Silence
Patrick Swayze: Waking up in Reno	Jolene Purdy: Debut
James Duval: Gone in Sixty Seconds	Richard Kelly: Debut